The Nuremberg laws of Nazi Germany decreed that if you had at least one grandparent who was Jewish, you were Jewish, and off to the camps you went. Apparently, if it was good enough for the Nazis, it’s good enough for the Algerians.
France’s Foreign Ministry expressed surprise Wednesday about an Algerian government minister’s remarks about a “Jewish lobby” being behind French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
The flap comes as Sarkozy is preparing to visit Algeria next week.
Mohamed Cherif Abbas, Algeria’s minister for veterans, was quoted Monday in the daily El Khabar as saying that Sarkozy was brought to power by a “Jewish lobby that has a monopoly on French industry.” Abbas also mentioned Sarkozy’s “roots,” an apparent reference to the French president’s maternal grandfather, who was Jewish.
Gee, what religion is that minister? Could it be—the Religion of Peace™? But remember, it isn’t anti-Semitism. It’s anti-Zionism. Well, in any case, the minister was at least embarrassed at what he said, right?
Wrong.
On Wednesday, Abbas told the Algerian state news agency APS that he “never had the intention …. of attacking the image of a foreign head of state.” He did not deny making the comments.
Even halachically (by Jewish law) non-Jewish heads of state are not immune to anti-Semitism. But that Nuremberg thing? Well, we pretty much knew about that even before it was codified into law. So we note this incident without surprise. The anti-Semitism of the Arab and Muslim world is extremely well-documented.
Update: Judeosphere has more.
“Good enough for Algerians†you compared Nazis to Algerians, instead of Algerians and Germans. What I do know by experience that Algerians do not hate Jews, you always have in any given society nickel heads that looks all day long for some body to hate. I agree with you that Jews took the worst hit and every effort has to be made to prevent future attacks on Jews. But to single out Algeria as a model anti-Semitism is a little bit of stretch. Even if I think that the member of Algerian government that made an anti-Semite comment should resign immediately, but Algeria is not a democracy, as they say in Algeria†open your mouth and your teeth are goneâ€. I’ve got news for you dear Meryl Yourish, we love our Algerian Jews and all Jewish people where ever they are, we are proud of our Jewish heritage, I always refer to Algeria without Jews as a wonderful dish without spices. Just listen to Algerian dialect, it has many Hebrew words, art, music etc..
I would love to believe that what you say is the majority opinion. But it doesn’t seem that way, particularly when you take into consideration the Algerian immigrants in France preying on French Jews.