Swastikas drawn on woman in Paris attack

[NashVegas]

A group of young men attacked a mother travelling with her child on a Parisian suburban railway, chopping off her hair and drawing swastikas on her stomach in the latest anti-semitic incident to unsettle France.

The attack happened around 9.30 on Friday morning, when the young woman was on a train on the northern outskirts of the capital with her 13-month-old child. A group of six youths, aged between 15 and 20, snatched her bag and rifled through it, seizing on her identity card, printed with her former address in the 16th arrondissment of Paris.

She told police that they shouted: "Only Jews live in the 16th." The men, who were armed with knives, then pushed her violently, cut off some of her hair ("to keep as a souvenir", French newspapers reported), and drew several swastikas on her stomach with a black felt-tip pen. Police said the 23-year-old, whose identity has not been revealed, was not Jewish.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,11882,1259063,00.html

[flewellyn]

1. Gee...

And people wonder why some of us Jews see anti-semitism as a threat these days.

[daleo]

2. This is a horrible event

There is also another thread, although this Guardian story has a few more details.

[James T. Kirk]

3. #$@% neo-nazis

Government figures released on Friday show a big increase in the number of racist and anti-semitic attacks in the first three months of this year, with more attacks reported than during the whole of 2003. The interior ministry registered 67 attacks on Jews or their property in the first quarter of this year, compared with 42 attacks in the last three months of 2003.
:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:
Racism is on the rise in Europe. Can't they just leave minorities alone?

[Baltimoreboy]

4. It appears it is mostly ONE minority

And that is nothing new in Europe.

[James T. Kirk]

9. One minority? I don't understand your point. Please rephrase.

[Baltimoreboy]

12. It appears the increase in hate crimes is

Significantly against the Jewish people.

Sorry if I wasn't clear.

[James T. Kirk]

21. Yeah, I know what you mean. Neo-nazis piss me off.

Sorry if I misread what you were saying.

[NorthernSpy]

24. Blacks were the TRUE victims of this "hate crime" hoax

"One minority", indeed! Let's not get ourselves into some muddle about anti-Semitism without looking at the specific facts of the case. This woman's story does not appear to check out -- which should surprise no one, as the details never rang quite true anyway. And yet so many people were automatically prepared to believe the worst about France's African population...

:eyes:


http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=58&story_id=9417

Mary

[lynx rufus]

13. Well, it's easy to fall, when you float like a cannon ball

[shadu]

15. great post, Lynx rufus

How ya been, anyway?

[lynx rufus]

22. Hi friend

I have been busy with Mountain Lions and
the Black Footed Cat recently. We are doubling in size
so the work load has been tremendous.
==you know I own a Wild Cat Refuge, don't you?

[nodehopper]

26. yeah, it's called ANTI-SEMITISM

what's your point?

[gatlingforme]

6. Why is that?? What is going on there?

[James T. Kirk]

10. The article said attacks are on the rise.

They are on the rise because the bigots are getting bolder. The sane, civilized people need to stop them, through law enforcement and ideological condemnation.

[James T. Kirk]

34. Even if this case was a hoax, the French gov't says attack are rising.

[CRK7376]

5. The sad part is

nobody stepped in to help the young lady and child...

[JayS]

11. Somehow I did not see that sentence. I guess I did not want...

...to see it. What the hell is wrong with those people who just stood by?

[ahimsa]

18. Knives, maybe?

Six "youths" (up to 20 years old) armed with knives - might have something to do with it. You would be much braver than I if you were to jump into that group.

[JayS]

25. You wouldn't have to jump right in, just jack with them enough...

...to curtail their little party until whatever passes for the law over there arrives. Then again, if no one else would help I guess I might just jump in as I like to be able to live with myself and people that can handle a knife worth a damn are fairly rare. One thing I find about "professional bullies" is that when they are challenged they pretty much think that there is something seriously wrong with you to attack them. Not talking reinforces this. :)

[Rose Siding]

14. Not one! and the child was knocked from the stroller

Who could just watch? Shame and humiliation to them for not helping.

[shadu]

16. Perhaps a bit of Karmic Palestinian/Israeli Defence Force payback?

I think so.

[Rose Siding]

17. For train passengers in Paris?

I don't understand.

[leanings]

33. Why I don't frequent DU very much anymore.

Yeah, she had it coming, and her little Jew baby too!!!

Jesus. If this is the fucking Democratic Party, show me the door.

[cap]

7. the 16th is the richest district of Paris

it is not a particularly "Jewish" district.

[TahitiNut]

8. Adjacent to the Tour dEiffel and Arc de Triomphe, it's favored by ...

... foreign (i.e. American) residences, as well. The international business 'community,' with offices in La Défense, prefers living there. Also adjacent to the Bois de Boulogne, it's the most arboreal district.

Interestingly, as the westernmost district of Paris it's historically favored because it's the furthest from the direction from which the Germans invade. (Yes, the west side of Paris is 'higher rent' for this historical reason.)

[lostnfound]

19. Seems bizarre...designed for maximum psychological effect in media.

Hatred that fuels such a bizarre attack would typically be so intense and irrational that the victim would end up in the hospital..?

[bemildred]

20. Seems bullshit. nt

[Rose Siding]

23. It may have been a hoax!

Paris train attack may never have happened
Paris — Police patrolled suburban trains on Monday and studied video from surveillance cameras, trying to track down six men who allegedly attacked a young mother and scrawled swastikas on her stomach.
...


Surveillance cameras at the station where the culprits reportedly left the train showed no young men running from the scene, and no witnesses have come forward despite repeated calls from officials and promises of anonymity.

Both France-Info radio and the television station LCI reported that the young woman had filed several complaints about violence and aggressive treatment in the past. Neither news outlet provided sources, but LCI said the woman had filed six such complaints. That information could not be immediately confirmed.


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040712.wsemi0712/EmailBNStory/International/

[daleo]

27. What a lousy couple of possibilities

If the story is true, a terrifying and shameful act of anti-semitism.

If the story is false, a terrifying and shameful false accusation, playing on stereotypes against North Africans, Blacks and Muslims (as per the Globe and Mail story).

[elcondor]

28. I agree

As a Jew, I am all too aware that there ARE many real instances of anti-Semitism in France (as well as practically everywhere else on the planet). If this woman did make this story up, she is only mocking the victims and serving to discredit their stories by crying wolf.

No, anti-Jewish violence isn't the only hate crime in the world, but it IS a growing problem--one that many governments choose to turn a blind eye to.

[Hobarticus]

29. Agreed.

This is terrible, either true or false. Obviously it's horrifying if it's true, but if it's false, it's demeaning to victims of any crime, not just anti-Semitic crimes. Any reason why she'd fake this, besides garnering attention?

[daleo]

31. If she did concoct this story (still a big if)

The Globe story said she had claimed to be a victim of violence five or six times in the past, to the police. So, she could be a victim of abuse who was covering up personal abuse with a story about stranger crime, or she could have serious mental problems. I don't think any sane person would make a claim like this lightly.

[Hobarticus]

32. Exactly.

And it is a big 'if', that she faked it. Again, may justice prevail.

[ronabop]

35. HOAX. Now widely accepted as such.

It was a racist attack alright.... but not on jews.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/15/international/europe/15fran.html

-Bop

[nightperson]

36. Not just "widely accepted",

but an admitted hoax.

Eric Alterman: Whenever I question the evidence of anti-Semitism in Europe (or anywhere else for that matter), my inbox fills up with Jewish hate mail signed by Jews. Because the false reports of this incident appeared on the same day I happened to do so this week, I heard about it from my nasty correspondents about a hundred times. Let’s be clear. Even if the incident had turned out to be true, it would have had no impact on anything I say. Only in our foolish cable-driven political culture do people think that a single incident of anything proves a long-term, widespread trend. I don’t mind the mail so much, though, because I kind of like the idea of e-mails from these ‘Kosher-er’ than the Pope Jews being turned into spam.

[Rochambeau]

30. Agree

If the story is false what that woman did is criminal. She is not a criminal in my point of view but a sick person but what she did is really damaging. Antisemitism is really growing in France in a certain part of the population, a part of the muslim youth, and the rest of the population begins with thinking now that they are 'not completely responsible' or 'we must understand, the palestinians are their cousins, would you react differently in the same situation? blah blah blah'. The french officials like president Chirac keep on repeating that it can't be tolerated do their to find the culprits, case by case. It's a good point but far to be enough.. The fools who give the criminals excuses don't even understand that their anti-semitism goes absolutly with rejection of european and secular values and even with anti-french racism. The raise of anti-semitism in Europe is always a dark sign of a troubled future. It's like people can't learn! I'm not confident at all.....