The Simon Wiesenthal Center has issued a travel advisory for Jews thinking about travelling to France or Belgium:
FRANCE — In the last 18 months there have been over 400 hate crimes against Jewish targets in France including, in recent days, arson attacks against synagogues, Jewish institutions, beatings of Jewish school children and pedestrians and other acts of threats and intimidation in Paris, Marseilles, Lyon and other communities. As a result, the Simon Wiesenthal Center urges Jewish travelers to France to exercise extreme caution while traveling to that country.
BELGIUM — Since the Intifada II, Jews in Belgium have been subjected to threats, intimidations, and attacks including a daylight assault on the Chief Rabbi in Brussels. Many religious Jews no longer feel safe wearing the traditional skullcap in public. As a result, the Simon Wiesenthal Center urges Jewish travelers to Belgium to exercise extreme caution while traveling to that country.
…Looks like Jews’ll be forced to go elsewhere for their fix of cheese, chocolate, bad manners, and silly nanny-statism.
(Hmmm. Is there a cheese-n-chocolate shop in Berkeley, I wonder…?)
[Related: Here’s the Center’s report on French anti-semitism, for those interested (pdf format)].
My parents are visiting family in Antwerp, which has a large Jewish community (kinda like Brooklyn). I spoke to my Mom yesterday, and asked her to relay a message to her family from me—“Guys, get the hell out of there, move to Israel, where it is safe.”
She said she didn’t think they would appreciate that message. I replied that if she wanted me to be polite, I could always wait to say something until after they were dead. She changed the subject. My folks come home Wednesday. I can’t wait.
(This was the phone conversation that prompted my “Plan B” post)
A French Jewish colleague of mine, responding to my questions about what it must be like to live in France these days, chillingly described it this way:
“We have come to learn that, even in the best of times, we are always 5 days away from Kristallnacht. Don’t think that I am lapsing into hyperbole. Supporting the continuity of the Jewish community or supporting the existence of the State of Israel is now an act that exposes one to personal risk.”
My view? The French political system is complicit in fostering and nuturing an environment hostile to the Jewish community. It makes you want to retract anything you’ve ever said that maligns French whores.