French-Jewish families are being forced from their homes in Paris suburbs as Europe continues to be convulsed by levels of anti-Semitism not seen since the end of the Second World War.
The Paris commuter newspaper 20 Minutes documents an “internal exodus” during 2017 of Jews from the Seine-Saint-Denis department, saying it is emblematic of broader concerns that French Jews, like their brothers and sisters across Europe, are finding it increasingly difficult to reconcile their faith with the changing demographics of the continent.
The paper reports that Jews are leaving their homes on the northeastern fringe of Paris to escape the open hostility that French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on Sunday condemned as “well-rooted.” The newspaper reports:
This ‘internal exodus’ is difficult to quantify, but it is clear that many synagogues of Seine-Saint-Denis have closed, for lack of people. In Pierrefitte, the rabbi has recorded a 50 percent decline in the congregations since his arrival thirteen years ago. A similar story is told in (nearby) Bondy, where attendance on Yom Kippur (the holiest day of the Jewish calendar) has fallen from about 800 to 400 in the last decade.
His observations mimic those made 12 months before in nearby Raincy, where local Rabbi Moshe Lewin said he feared he could be one of the last Jewish leaders in Seine-Saint-Denis.
“What upsets me is that in some areas of France, Jews can no longer live peacefully, and that just five minutes from my home, some are forced to hide their kippas (skullcaps) or their Star of David,” he said.
The sensation of “not feeling welcome” is nothing new to French Jews. In 2015, journalist Zvika Klein recorded the reaction to his taking to the streets of Paris wearing a traditional kippa. See the result for yourself below:
Sammy Ghozlan, the president of the Jewish communal security organization BNCVA, told 20 Minutes that it was vital “not to underestimate the antisemitism we experience on a daily basis.”
“For a long time, Jews were targeted through their symbols — today, people themselves are targeted directly,” Ghozlan said.
As Breitbart Jerusalem has reported, the experience of Jews in Paris is much the same across the rest of the country. More and more are feeling so unsafe that they now feel they have no other choice but to move to Israel for safety.
They are continuing a trend that has seen tens of thousands of Jews quit the country in the past decade.
More than 5,000 departures were recorded in 2016 on top of the record 7,900 who left in 2015 and 7,231 in 2014. In total, 40,000 French Jews have emigrated since 2006, according to figures cited by AFP.
France and Germany have pledged to back the European Commission if it triggers sanctions against Poland next week.
"If the commission thinks it has to trigger the procedure, we have a very clear and consistent position - we'll support the commission," French president Emmanuel Macron said in Brussels on Friday (15 December).
German chancellor Angela Merkel said: "If the commission considers it is forced to resort [to sanctions], we would also support the commission".
They spoke at a joint briefing after an EU summit that took place amid a long-standing row on Poland's controversial judicial reforms.
The commission has threatened to declare, next Wednesday, that Poland is in breach of EU values due to the Law and Justice (PiS) government's apparent attempts to seize control over the country's courts and judges.
The procedure could end in the suspension of Poland's voting rights in the EU Council - an unprecedented event in EU history - but France and Germany said every effort would be made to avoid that.
"I wish that Poland would remove its ambiguities [on rule of law]. My perception is that this is the intention of the new [Polish] prime minister. We have to give a chance to these discussions," Macron said.
Merkel said: "I'll do anything I can in order to work well together with the new Polish prime minister. The better the cooperation with Poland, the better for Europe."
A lot of frustration has been expressed – on these pages and elsewhere – over the slow pace of progress in unraveling the Deep State coup against Trump. But "the process of uncovering the worst political scandal in American history," as I called it a couple of days ago, needs to be done the right way, or else it will founder under the waves of abuse that will pour from the media and political branches of the establishment. Not only must legal niceties be observed, but the rollout of information must be undertaken with a strategy in mind. Each step builds on the previous and addresses the probable response.
When Rod Rosenstein evaded the answers being sought in a congressional hearing and deferred to the inspector general investigation underway, I thought it a reasonable response, even though Rosenstein is now a hate-object for having appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel. The I.G., Michael E. Horowitz, is no political stooge. (For background on the inspectors general, see Ed Lasky here and here. There are unsung heroes of our constitutional republic among them, hero-federal bureaucrats.)
And letting any of the I.G.'s cats out of the bag early could have serious consequences.
Sundance of Conservative Treehouse has a must-read column today, analyzing the pattern of disclosures from the I.G. In Sundance's words, "It looks just like a prosecutor laying out his case."
Consider what is at stake; and further consider that you were given the task of revealing the outcome of an investigation of such consequence. How would you introduce the findings to the larger U.S. electorate? Given the timing of the releases from the IG's investigation, I think that's what we are seeing in the past two weeks. A prosecutor laying out his case over the course of multiple media cycles. ...
There is a pattern in the released OIG information and how we retrieve it from the media.
♦Ahead of FBI Director Christopher Wray appearing before congress the IG released the information about FBI Agent Strzok and his mistress FBI/DOJ Attorney Lisa Page.
♦Just before Asst. FBI Director Andrew McCabe was going to appear before congress the IG released information about DOJ Deputy Bruce Ohr and his wife Nellie Ohr.
Andrew McCabe ducked out of the hearing, and will now appear next week. Boy-oh-boy that one should be interesting. If he's still employed. (anticipating more releases here)
♦Just before DOJ Asst. AG Rod Rosenstein appeared before congress the IG released the actual text messaging information from Agent Strzok and Lisa Page.
See the pattern?
Sundance lays out what I have been thinking of as a story arc, the broad picture of where this can be expected to develop, given the facts as we know them at the moment. I am always conscious that President Trump is a master showman with a specialty in reality TV. He thinks in terms of story arcs.
The OIG is laying out the case for further inquiry, investigation and more importantly questioning, of each of the aforementioned officials. ...
[T]he IG is laying out his prosecutable case before the American public via TV and congressional appearances. In my humble opinion none of this is accidental. This is strategic white hat distribution of material that is immensely important to the larger U.S. electorate. The subject matter is so consequential, it needs to be absorbed in small digestible portions.
We should be hearing from the I.G. in the early part of next year, in time for this to start to unfold in TV prior to the November midterm elections.
Sundance looks ahead the next couple of steps, toward prosecution, and follows the potential chain upward. Momentum, and consequently timing, is critical because of the expected all-out resistance. Watergate was nothing compared to this.
A strong earthquake has shaken buildings in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta and other cities on the country's most populous island of Java. Authorities issued a tsunami warning for parts of Java's coastline but no injuries from the temblor were immediately reported.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake which struck just before midnight Friday had a magnitude of 6.5 and was about 91 kilometers (56 miles) deep and located inland. Indonesian authorities reported a quake of similar magnitude offshore of Java.
Indonesian Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said there were reports of damage to buildings in parts of western Java.
Nugroho said strong tremors were felt for about 20 seconds in Jakarta and in cities and villages in western and central Java.
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