Jewish World

18 THE JERUSALEM REPORT FEBRUARY 9, 2015 A soldier secures the access to a Jewish institution in Neuilly- sur-Seine, western , on January 13, in the wake of terror attacks in the French capital the previous week

Panic in Paris In the wake of the Hyper Cacher killings, the Jews of fear new terror attacks By Bernard Edinger Paris

THE JERUSALEM REPORT FEBRUARY 9, 2015 19 REUTERS / PLATIAU CHARLES Jewish World

our million people marched in French national minute of silence on January 8. towns and cities on January 11 in a rare The tribute had been called throughout the Fmoment of national unity to mark their country after the first terror attack in which solidarity with 17 journalists, police officers brothers Said and Chérif Kouachi, 34 and and Jews murdered by Islamist gunmen in 32, French-born children of Algerian immi- Paris days earlier. grants, killed 12 people on January 7 in or Many commentators compared the gather- near the offices of the leftist satirical week- ings, and the determination of those who took ly magazine in Paris. Two of part to display their rejection of totalitarian- the victims – a magazine proofreader and a ism and violence, to the heady days of libera- policeman, whom the gunmen wounded and tion from Nazi rule in August 1944. finished off with a bullet to the head as he French Jews, many of whom were in a state lay on the ground – were Muslims. Charlie of panic following the murder of four shop- Hebdo, which is militantly atheistic and regu- pers in a Paris kosher supermarket on Jan- larly attacks all religions, often using obscene uary 9, participated in the marches in great terms and images, has long been embroiled numbers, many wearing badges that read “Je in a controversy over its publication of carica- suis Juif” (I am a Jew). tures of the prophet Mohammed. The authorities posted more than 10,000 But when a nationwide minute of silence soldiers on anti-terror duty, including round- was called the following day, incidents in the-clock guard of over 717 synagogues and which the gunmen were praised, teachers Jewish schools and institutions across the challenged and France insulted were reported country. In a south Paris suburb, marines in more than 200 schools in areas with high wearing bulletproof vests and cradling as- concentrations of pupils of Muslim Arab sault rifles at a Chabad-run daycare center origin. Students jeered, whistled, stamped were pleasantly surprised to find that Jew- their feet and shouted “Allahu akbar” (God is ish mothers dropping off their children had great), teachers reported. brought along hot coffee and croissants for “Our colleagues were surprised by the vi- them. olence of the reaction to the call to join the But one very large segment of French so- nationwide minute of silence. It wasn’t phys- ciety was conspicuously absent from the ral- ical violence, but it was an outbreak of noisy lies and from the gestures of unity – France’s rejection, which, in effect, amounted to un- Muslim community, which numbers around acceptable backing for criminal action and six million and is the largest in Europe. hostility to France,” a teachers’ union rep- Dalil Boubakeur, president of the official- resentative told French Radio. “Are you for A shocked French public massively took ly-approved French Muslim Council, and the terrorists or for the French?” pupils were up the hashtag “#JeSuisCharlie” (I am Char- Hassen Chalghoumi, an imam noted for his reported to be asking each other. lie), which was quickly seen everywhere opposition to fundamentalism, were near the “I don’t condone murder, but the journal- across France and abroad in sympathy with head of the march in Paris. But both are under ists at Charlie Hebdo were looking for it. the Charlie Hebdo journalists. But a hashtag tight police protection 24 hours a day, includ- They were racists who had been insulting backing the Kouachi brothers “#JeSuis ing in their own mosques. Other Muslims the Prophet [Mohammed] for a long time,” Kouachi” was re-tweeted 21,000 times in the were clearly few and far between. said one girl on the same radio station. Teach- two days after the killings, while the words “Alas, the silent Muslim majority remained ers were appalled that pupils as young as 11 “I am not Charlie” were scrawled on walls in silent,” retired French police superintendent joined in. Police reported that, in the ensuing immigrant-dominated neighborhoods. Sammy Ghozlan tells The Jerusalem Report. days, Arab youths provocatively flashed V He heads the National Bureau of Vigilance for Victory signs at them in clear support for EDUCATION MINISTER Najat Vallaud against Anti-Semitism (BNVCA), a Jewish the killers of three police officers during the Belkacem, who arrived in France with her group active in blue-collar areas where poor violence. family as immigrants from Morocco at the Jews live uneasily side by side with large The final attack was against a kosher su- age of five and became a French citizen at 18, Arab populations. Ghozlan is in constant permarket in Paris on January 9 in which convened an emergency meeting of educa- contact with such moderate Muslim figures four Jewish shoppers were killed by Ahmedy tors and parents’ groups to review the situa- as Chalghoumi, whom he calls “my brother.” Coulibaly, 32, the French-born son of immi- tion in schools. Now 37, Vallaud Belkacem, However, and to the great shock of the grants from the West African state of Mali. the daughter of a construction site worker, French press and public, not all French Mus- Islam is far less rigid in Mali than in Arab is often portrayed as an example as to how lims were silent. Thousands, if not tens of states, but Coulibaly, a multi-convicted some Muslims (especially young women) thousands of French-born Muslim teenagers, armed robber, was converted to radical Is- have succeeded in French society. the children and grandchildren of immigrants lam while in prison, including by one of the She said new civic education programs from Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, France’s Kouachi brothers. Coulibaly and the Kouachi would be drafted for youths of immigrant former North African Arab possessions, brothers were killed in separate shoot-outs origin who complain of prejudice directed openly and angrily refused to participate in a with police on January 9. against them by the French public, employers

20 THE JERUSALEM REPORT FEBRUARY 9, 2015 Mourners gather during the joint funeral in Jerusalem on January 13 for the victims of the terror attack on a Paris grocery; the bodies of four French Jews, Yohan Cohen, Yoav Hattab, Philippe Braham and Francois- Michel Saada were flown to Israel for burial

lamic feeling among Muslim youths who are often reported to pressure, if not force, their mothers and sisters to wear Islamic clothing. One Muslim immigrant from Mali, howev- er, became a French national hero overnight during the tragic events in Paris. He was Lassana Bathily, an employee of the kosher supermarket who concealed a dozen Jewish shoppers in a storeroom and then escaped the premises to inform police, possibly saving lives. The authorities quickly decided to grant him immediate citizenship and hundreds of thousands of people petitioned the govern- ment to decorate him with France’s national order, the Legion of Honor. When the January 11 march began in Paris, attended by 1.5 million people, Joël Mergui, head of the “Consistoire Israélite” board, which administers French synagogues, told reporters, “It is absolutely essential that French Muslim society, not just the leaders but the whole of society, show themselves RONEN ZVULUN / REUTERS / ZVULUN RONEN here today to distance themselves from what has happened, and to say and demonstrate and the police. Unemployment among ethnic 78 percent of the Muslims in France wanted that Islamic fundamentalism is not Islam. French school-leavers is already at around 25 to adopt French customs and assimilate into “Muslim youths must hear this from their percent, but double that figure for youths of society. The same survey found that the fig- parents, and especially from the personali- immigrant origin. Delinquency is rife among ure dropped to 53 percent in Spain, 41 percent ties they look up to, the entertainers and the young Muslims who make up between 60 sportsmen. If tens and hundreds of thousands and 70 percent of inmates in France’s main of Muslims participate, then the French pub- prisons. FRANCE’S MUSLIM lic will not equate Muslims with terrorists.” “Commissaire” Ghozlan, the Jewish ex- COMMUNITY WAS But only few Muslims were present be- policeman whose career was spent largely in cause even moderates were offended by the tough, heavily Muslim, Seine-Saint Denis CONSPICUOUSLY Charlie Hebdo’s recurrent caricatures of Mo- suburbs north of Paris, was pessimistic about hammed, including some with the prophet the prospects of redressing the situation. ABSENT FROM THE portrayed with bare buttocks up in the air. “After every Islamic terror attack, be it in Charlie’s anti-Catholic caricatures, directed France or abroad, a huge number of French RALLIES AND FROM THE against the Pope, priests and nuns were even Muslim youths identify with terrorists like GESTURES OF UNITY more aggressive and often of a pornographic Osama Bin Laden who they look up to as he- nature. roes. I estimate that up to 80 percent of French “French Muslims were extremely upset by Muslim youths support the killers of the jour- in Britain and 30 percent in Germany. the Charlie Hebdo murders because life is nalists, not to mention the gunman who killed The failure to integrate children of immi- sacred,” wrote Ahmed Jaballah, former head the four Jews at the kosher supermarket,” he grants from Arab countries contrasts sharply of the Union des Organisations Islamiques de said. with France’s success in assimilating millions France (UOIF), a mainstream Muslim orga- Until now, public opinion polls have shown of immigrants from Italy, Spain, Portugal and nization. “We are for freedom of the press but that the vast majority of Muslims in France Poland, as well as Jewish, Christian Arab and in a country where groups of different origins seek to integrate into society at large, even Vietnamese refugees over the past century. live together, why seek to use these freedoms though anti-Jewish feeling is rife even among Even though most do not speak Arabic, to offend the dignity of others,” he wrote in moderates. A PEW survey in 2006 found that there is a renaissance of fundamentalist Is- the newspaper .

THE JERUSALEM REPORT FEBRUARY 9, 2015 21 Jewish World

Most noticeable during and after the kill- ings was the stony silence and complete absence from public view of France’s most popular Muslims who are looked up to by Muslim youths, as well as by the French public at large. These included the immense- ly popular film actors and comedians Jamel Debbouze and Omar Sy, as well as former football megastar Zinedine Zidane. The only personality ghetto youths look up to who did express himself was the anti-Semitic, half-African stand-up “comedi- an” Dieudonné M’Bala M’Bala. He tweeted on January 11 that he identified himself as “Charlie Coulibaly,” after the gunman at the kosher supermarket, and despite the fact that one of the people he had killed was a young black policewoman. This resulted in his ar- rest for 12 hours on January 14 on charges of glorifying terrorism. He will be tried in early February. What the French government fears above all is a repeat of the riots that spread across immigrant-dominated areas for several weeks in October-November 2005, when at least 10,000 cars and hundreds of public buildings were set ablaze. Prime Minister Manuel Valls told parlia- ment after the shootings that France was “at Tunis. They were buried in Jerusalem. the store to buy challah bread for Shabbat – so war against terrorism, jihadism and radical Saada and Hattab were Tunis born as were classes had broken up by then. Islamism.” But he insisted that France was the two Jews among the dead at Charlie Heb- “It was only on the Monday [January 12] not at war with the Muslim faith, the coun- do, psychiatrist , 54, who wrote that we all met back in class. On arrival, ev- try’s second largest religion after Catholi- a medical column for the publication, and eryone was stunned – but gratefully so – to cism, which he said, “has its place in France.” , 80, one of France’s most see two police vans in front of the school and Oddly, much of the French public has no popular cartoonists. Wolinski was aged two about 15 riot policemen wielding sub-ma- idea that French aircraft, based in Jordan, when his father, who had settled in Tunisia chine guns at the entrance,” Suzanne E. adds. Abu Dhabi and, soon, from an aircraft carrier from Poland, was murdered there by an Arab “But the following day, the police were re- now heading to the region, constitute the sec- employee during a work dispute at the small placed by soldiers in camouflage combat gear ond largest of the air forces – albeit far behind factory he owned in the North African city. carrying machine guns. They are now not the US but second nonetheless – pummeling Suzanne E. teaches fifth graders at a Jew- only outside the school but have also moved Islamic State positions in Iraq. ish primary school not far from where the inside where they will camp in an emptied French ground troops are also engaged attack against the Hyper Cacher supermar- classroom to give the building 24-hour pro- daily in five African countries – Mali, Niger, ket took place. Several of her pupils live in tection. The children are all excited and cu- Burkina Fasso, Chad and the Central African the Porte de Vincennes neighborhood where rious, but the parents are very worried at the Republic – against Islamic militant forces the grocery is located. One is the nephew of warlike atmosphere,” she says. threatening the pro-Western regimes of those a woman held hostage during the attack. One soldier sent to guard a Jewish commu- countries. “I found when I came to class on Monday nity center in southern France reported back The Paris violence, especially that at the that it was not so much the children who to his parents, “If we stay here a few weeks, kosher supermarket, threw many of France’s seemed affected but their parents. The moth- we’re all going to put on 10 kilos because Jews into a state of panic, even though they ers are absolutely panicked, and three of my everyone here is plying us with cakes and have long been the target of harassment and teacher colleagues, all young women with sweets all day.” attack by local Muslims. The panic was small children, have announced that they The arrival in Paris of Prime Minister Ben- largely triggered by reports that said the gun- are leaving for Israel. One of them said she jamin Netanyahu and several of his ministers man who attacked the kosher grocery initial- was packing right now and not waiting to go to join the solidarity march with other world ly intended to attack a Jewish school nearby. through the full administrative process,” she leaders, immediately brought to the fore the Those killed at the supermarket were tells The Report. issue of French Jewish immigration to Israel. François-Michel Saada, 55, Philippe Bra- “The attack against the kosher supermarket Not surprisingly, Netanyahu’s statements ham, 45, Yohan Cohen, 22, and Yoav Hattab, took place after midday on Friday – one man on the spot saying Jews were welcome to 21, the latter, son of the current chief rabbi of was killed because he had just popped into “come home” to Israel led to some debate

22 THE JERUSALEM REPORT FEBRUARY 9, 2015 A man pays tribute to the victims of the by the fact that about 1,500 French nationals, terror attack at the Hyper Cacher kosher nearly all of them Muslims from the rough supermarket near Porte de Vincennes in suburbs around French cities, have gone off eastern Paris, January 12; the signs on the to fight in jihadist ranks in Syria and Iraq. wall declare ‘I am Hyper Cacher,’ ‘I am a The Kouachi brothers said they were affil- policeman,’ ‘I am Charlie’ and ‘I am a Jew’ iated with al-Qaida in Yemen, while Couli- baly said he was linked to the Islamic State movement. Participants in anti-Jewish terror attacks in the past were weapons-trained in Philosopher Alain Finkielkraut, a strong Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria. backer of Israel, said, “I think Bibi was wrong to express himself as he did. French Jews are SPEAKING TO The Report in December, French and the majority of the French feel Roger Cukierman, president of the CRIF solidarity with their Jewish compatriots and umbrella body for French Jewry, said of the oppose the Islamists. French-Arab youths going abroad to fight and “If the Jews here were tomorrow wedged to train, “Some of them will come back and between ferocious anti-Semitism from the Is- many Jews ask, not if there will be a new ter- lamists while the French hard-left wanted to rorist act but when it will happen.” Little did nail a Star of David on us because we back he know how right he would soon prove to be. Israel, then perhaps we would want to go Retired senior policeman Ghozlan says he breathe fresher air elsewhere. But I hope that is in close contact with the top echelons of the the future for French Jews is in France. Those Paris area police to coordinate protection at who are leaving are fleeing, not ascend- Jewish sites. ing to Zion out of idealism,” he told French “This hyper-protection is going to be im- television. possible to live with day by day. I think that it Most of the Jews leaving France hail from would be best to make a major effort to search

YVES HERMAN / REUTERS / YVES HERMAN that third of the community who make up the for and eliminate the people who are putting hard core of active French Judaism and who both France and its Jews in danger. within the community, which is overwhelm- number about 100,000-150,000. “For the time being there is no lessening in ingly pro-Israel but divided on whether aliya The overwhelming majority of those leav- the risk of new terror attacks. The jihadists is called for. ing are Sephardi Jews who already fled from are not going to give up now. On the contrary, Approximately 7,000 French Jews immi- French North Africa when their native lands those who committed the terror attacks that grated to Israel in 2014, double the number became independent between 1956 and 1962. just occurred are sure to become models and of the year before, and Israeli officials pre- Those from Tunisia and Morocco, who make idols for those who want to follow in their dict the number for 2015 could reach 10,000- up a large part of this group, only became footsteps. 15,000. French Jewish leaders believe several French after arriving in France 50 years ago “That’s exactly how it worked after past at- thousand more left last year for Canada, the and have fewer ties to the country than Alge- tacks. One terrorist inspires the one who fol- US and Britain. rian Jews, who have been French since 1871, lows behind him and there are already calls or the Ashkenazi Jews who once made up the by radical preachers from abroad saying that WHAT I FEAR TODAY near totality of the French Jewish community. the ‘internal Islamic Army in France’ should But many of the Ashkenazis have so assimi- be mobilized to commit new attacks. IS A CONTINUATION lated into French society, often intermarrying “What I fear today is a continuation of at- with non-Jews, that they frequently distance tacks against Jewish targets, but also against OF ATTACKS AGAINST themselves from community ranks. Many of targets where there are lots of people present the Ashkenazis are far more liberal political- – in department stores and shopping centers. JEWISH TARGETS, BUT ly than the rightist Sephardis, and are clearly That’s where the danger is today,” Ghozlan ALSO AGAINST TARGETS uneasy with Netanyahu, the Israeli right and says. the power of religious parties in Israel. “I’ve already seen this in Algeria [where WHERE THERE ARE LOTS What of the future? As the old question he was born under French rule]. One should asks, “Is it good for the Jews or bad for the avoid paranoia but, on the other hand, one OF PEOPLE PRESENT Jews?” should not believe that security measures are Even before the current dramas, Valls 100 percent perfect. One has to remain vigi- But not everyone agrees that leaving is had warned that there were several hundred lant at all times. In Algeria in the past, as in the answer. Mergui, the Jewish religious “human time bombs” set to go off among Jerusalem today, someone can come into a board head, quoting Prime Minister Valls alienated immigrant youth, especially those marketplace and stab a woman in the back that “France without Jews would no longer like Coulibaly, who lead a life of crime and just because she’s Jewish. The same can hap- be France” added that “when the state sends become Muslim fundamentalists while in pen in a shop or a restaurant in France today. 10,000 French soldiers to protect Jewish sites, prison. “We have to be very careful,” he it is not really the time to talk about leaving.” French leaders say they are very worried concludes. ■

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