Yesterday, a sad, terrible, deplorable thing happened in Paris.
In the middle of a manifestation against the war in Iraq, in which you could see hundreds of people wearing keffiah (traditional arab head-wear) and carrying Iraqi and Palestinian flags, two counselors in the jewish zionist youth movement Hashomer Hatzar happened to walk by. One of them 25, the other 18, were first insulted by the crowd, then phisycally attacked. They ended in the hospital.
During this whole thing, you could hear insults against jews. On a loadspeaker, one of the manifestants yelled (roughly, my french is not so good) “Nous, les musulmans, nous les Arabes, nous pouvons nous promener la tute haute dans la rue. Eux (jes juifs, ndlr) sont obligs de se cacher. Un verset du Coran dit : Ce que l?on vous a inflig, vous pourrez l’infliger. Mais la patience est une vertue. Sachons attendre, la roue va tourner.” – it translates: “Us muslims, us the Arabs, can walk around on the streets with our heads high. Them (the Jews) are forced to hide. A verse from the Coran says: Those who inflicted upon us, you can inflict on them the same. But patience is a virtua. We must know to wait. The wheel will turn” (excuse any errors on this translation).
After this, the members of Hashomer had to go to the place where they carry out their activities and lock themselves inside, while outside many people went out of the path of the manifestation to yell, hit on the doors and terrorize them. There were about 150 kids inside, between the ages of 6 and 15 most of them, about thirty in their early twenties or less.
I am myself a member of Hashomer and went as a kid and as a counselor in Mexico for about 12 years of my life. What happened in France is shameful, a true showing of violent antisemitism. The saddest part, is the weak covergae by the French and world media and the apathy shown by the French government on the face of such event inside their own society.
Shana Fleszler is a counselor in Hashomer Hatzair Paris, and a personal friend. She told me about what happened over there (she was in the middle of the whole thing, of course). My disbelief is incredible. I post this humble words as a show of support for the people of Hashomer and for those that were personally attacked. Refuah shlema (health) to them. I hope I can help to raise consciousness in any way.
Last, I’d like to briefly sum up the ideology of the Hashomer Hatzair movement. This is an educational movement, started in Poland in 1917. It is a left wing movement which that founded over 85 kibbutzim and is one of the strongest advocates of dialogue with the Palestinians and the formation of a viable Palestinian state through territorial concessions.
Links:
Article in Proce-Orient (Google translation)
Article in JT Digipresse (Google translation)