Arson damages Jewish boys' high school in France

[Paschall]

Mods, this is a translation from the French so headline and content are of my own making. - Paschall



A fire of "criminal origin" heavily damaged a Jewish boys' high school in Gagny, France, in the Greater Paris region, early Saturday morning. There were no injuries.

Nicolas Sarkozy, the Minister of the Interior, and Luc Ferry, Minister of Education, both visited the site shortly afterward.

Sixty firefighters were required to quell the blaze. The school is managed by the Jewish association Merkaz Hatorah.

Original French and video clip here: http://www.france2.fr/semiStatic/61-NIL-NIL-276585.html

[Darranar]

1. Those who committed this act deserve to be punished...

this is, very simply, a despicable act agianst innocent people - many of them children.

[kalian]

2. And bombs raining down from Israeli F-16s....

and machine gun fire from tanks...is also a despicable act against
people defending themselves.

Violence begets violence...

[Darranar]

3. What does this have to do with I/P?

Well?

[Media_Lies_Daily]

6. "I/P"??

[Darranar]

8. Israel/Palestine.

[MikeGalos]

9. Welcome to Bizarro World

Of course, it has nothing to do with Israel but there is some major political pressure in certain circles to deny that there is any anti-semitism anywhere in the world.

For a really silly example, two synagogues get simultaneously blown up during Shabbat prayers in Turkey, a radical Islamist group claims credit (and the big debate is which radical Islamist group did it no whether it was radical Islamists) and I got flamed for suspecting that there might be some anti-Jewish motive.

It's a kind of twisted bizarro-world logic: Attacking something Jewish is never done because the attackers hate Jews. Even the ones saying that Jews use Moslem blood to make cookies for Purim really aren't anti-Semites. People claiming that the Holocaust never happened and was a Jewish fabrication to gain sympathy are publicly lauded as not having the slightest hint of anti-Semitism.

These are the same people who think it is racist for Israel to have a more diverse religious population than the US but have no problem with the Jordanian constitution specifically banning Jews from citizenship.

In this world, attacking Jews is always really anti-Israel because somehow all Jews everywhere in the world back not only Israel and not only the Likud party but secretly are all close allies of Ariel Sharon himself. Even Sharon's opponents.

It's a twisted logic here in Bizarro-world but at least it is totally predictable.

[ex_jew]

11. "Of course, it has nothing to do with Israel"

Why "of course" ? How the hell do YOU know what is has to do with ? Israel is the Jewish state, or so I'm told. Maybe the attackers have relatives who have suffered in the Occupied Territories. Not to sympathize, rationalize excuse or whatever, but you just DON'T KNOW. Saying "of course" simply broadcasts the lack of any basis for your statement.

[MikeGalos]

12. Well

Perhaps the statement made by the group is a hint.

On the other hand, perhaps blowing up two Jewish houses of worship in Turkey might logically be tied to hating Jews by people in Turkey.

Imagine that. Following the most logical, rational, explanation rather than making up excuses for why it must fit your political agendum. Wow.

[Cassandra]

7. What does this have to do with a group of French children?

or did you think that this school is the secret operations HQ of the IDF?
God forbid you would just be disgusted at this act; that would be asking too much of you, wouldn't it?

[rini]

4. But of course

there is no anti-semitsm involved.

[MikeGalos]

10. Interestingly

The French Government says it's anti-Semitic and racist (see below). That's a nice change from some of the earlier incidents that were answered with very lukewarm statements.

"The criminal origin of the blaze is more than strongly suspected which gives, for this Jewish school, an anti-Semitic and obviously racist connotation," said Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy during a visit to the fire site.

"This shows that there is still lots of work to do to fight against all forms of anti-Semitism," the minister added.

[TahitiNut]

5. Link to article in English

Fire of suspect origin partially destroys Jewish school in France