Mother, baby attacked on Paris train after mistaken for Jews

[Gimel]

VERSAILLES, France - A young woman and her baby were attacked in a suburban train near Paris on Saturday by unidentified men who drew swastikas on her stomach with a pen in what police said was an anti-Semitic assault.

The six attackers who were armed with knives clipped the 23-year-old woman's hair, and cut her t-shirt and pants before drawing three swastikas on her body.

The men of North African origin also overturned the pram with her baby of 13 months.

In the attack they robbed her backpack which contained her identity papers, a bank card and 200 euros ($250).

Link to article

But she wasn't killed was she? Couldn't be serious. Just a prank. Robbery and mutilation and harming her baby are just fun stuff. Besides, she wasn't really Jewish anyway./sarcasm

It just goes to show you have to tear down that wall. Then this wouldn't happen.

[murielm99]

1. Huh?

It just goes to show you have to tear down that wall. Then this wouldn't happen???

Blame the victim, already!

It is those Jews' own fault when people pick on them. <sarcasm off>

[Flagg]

2. I'm confused

I thought the recent spat of antisemitic attacks in France had nothing to do with the Israelo-Palestinian conflict but with France's long history with antisemitism.

So why do we find this article here ?

Help me out here.

[Gimel]

3. Of course not

They are north African Arabs who only attack because they have been told that Jews are evil. If EU is supporting Palestinians because they fear the back-lash, then there is a connection.

[Djinn]

4. and this is I/P because?

are you going to continue to post every single crime committed against Jews in France? If so can the rest of us post individual hate crimes against Muslims in COW countries to "proove" the anti-arab feeling in the west?

What does this have to do with Israel/Palestine.

Also just curious - whilst I think this woman was clearly terrorised, what would your response be if others claimed in this forum that a Palestinian woman with her hair cut was "mutilated"?

[Fight_n_back]

5. Feel free

You will not be able to find a nation on this earth where anti muslim hate crimes equals or surpasses anti Jewish hate crimes.

[Djinn]

6. you might want to check out the statistics for hate crimes in Oz

[geek tragedy]

9. Or the United States.

Or Germany.

[Karmadillo]

7. Anti-Semitic attack near Paris may have been fabricated

http://www.maarivintl.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=9713

Last week's highly publicized antisemitic incident on a Paris commuter train sparked government condemnation and demonstrations. However, according to newly-published reports, the story may have been invented.

According to last night's report on French TV channel LCI, police became suspicious after finding no witnesses to the incident and discovering that the woman had registered at least six previous complaints of harassment. The head of the professional union of French police also pointed to contradictions in the woman's testimony.

Nevertheless, French police are not hurrying to discount the complaint of Marie, 23, who claims that six youths, mistakenly thinking she was Jewish, attacked her and her baby last Friday morning on a local Paris train. She charged that they shouted anti-Semitic curses, cut her hair, ripped her shirt and pants, and used black markers to draw three swastikas on her stomach.

Yesterday, speaking with Nicole Guedj, France's Jewish assistant minister for victims' rights, the young mother said, "I am afraid. If I agree to speak and appear on the news, I'm afraid they'll find me and come to take revenge. I want to protect my baby daughter. I want them to forget me".

more...

[newyorican]

23. way to kill the thread....

some of the residents were just "getting their lather on"...

[Forkboy]

8. Kick

[bigbillhaywood]

10. Well, it just goes to show all North Africans, Arabs and Muslims are

Jew-hating anti-Semitic thugs. That is the point of your post right? Why else would you place it in I/P? I think for you, Gimel, the Palestinians are not a people, but a problem.

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[CookieD]

12. Moderator - rules clarification please?

The post directly above appears to violate several DU rules. Is this kind of stuff OK?

[Flagg]

13. French woman admits she lied about anti-semitic attack: police

French woman admits she lied about anti-semitic attack: police



FRENCH WOMAN ADMITS SHE LIED ABOUT ANTI-SEMITIC ATTACK: POLICE

Received Tuesday, 13 July 2004 17:41:00 GMT
PARIS, July 13 (AFP) - A young French woman who claimed she had been the victim last week of a vicious anti-Semitic attack on a Paris suburban train admitted Tuesday that she had lied, police said.
The 23-year-old woman had initially told police that on Friday six youths had slashed her clothes, drawn swastikas on her stomach and flipped over her baby carriage with her 13-month-old child inside after mistaking her for a Jew.
On Tuesday, she first changed her story to say that she had been assaulted outside the train, but finally admitted that she had invented the entire incident.
The woman said she had drawn the swastikas on her own stomach with the help of her boyfriend, according to police.
The woman has been placed in preventive detention for "falsely reporting a crime", state prosecutor Xavier Salvat told AFP. Her boyfriend has also been detained, police said.

Previous stories in same thread:

http://www.ttc.org/200407131741.i6dhfxr13491.htm

[Djinn]

25. does France have any hate crime or similar laws

this woman didn't just make a false report she was playing on and clearly hoping to exacerbate the fear and hatred of Arabs/Muslims in France.

[bigbillhaywood]

14. If you've already alerted the moderator, they aren't online all the time

so it normally takes some time for them to respond. I guess directly confronting anti-Arab racism on this board is too much for you to handle, huh? So much hate and venom on this board against Arabs and Muslims, but nobody with the guts to admit it. There are people who hang out here only because if they went upstairs they would quickly be exposed as the racist right-wingers they are. Well, if so many people think killing my ethincity is fine and dandy, then I'm calling bullshit on them. Go Sox!

[Forkboy]

15. Amen

There are people who hang out here only because if they went upstairs they would quickly be exposed as the racist right-wingers they are.

[drdon326]

16. Let me pick up your spirits then....

here...read this....

http://www.arabsforisrael.com/pages/1/index.htm

[bigbillhaywood]

17. This is similar to your Arab Israelis for the fence argument good doctor,

it doesn't really have any significance, other than demonstrating there are obviously some Arab-Americans out there with little comprehension of the objective power dynamics of imperialism and oppression, or seem to miss the fact that Israel is occupying Palestine, not the other way around (or maybe they have some other interest in or reason for erroneously laying the burden of the conflict on Palestinians).

I started reading the website with an open mind, and went through their points of "what we stand for" or whatever it was titled. First I read something to the effect that they support an Israeli state living in peace. Okay, nothing crazy about that. Then it was condemning suicide bombings. Hey, that's good by me. Then it was criticizing Arab and Palestinian leadership. This started to get me a little suspicious, because Pal/Arab leadership is not really the main problem with the conflict, but there is a lot to be justifiably criticized in regards to Arab leadership, so I was still okay with this group's stated program at that point.

Then when I finished, I thought, hey, where's the part about Israeli withdrawal from the Occupied Territories and Palestinian statehood in their little declaration of principles on their home page? I mean, surely such a "reasonable" Arab organization for peace with Israel, would not leave that out of a program for a just and peaceful settlement between the Palestinians and Israelis. Well, I must have missed it. So I read over the points again. And I didn't find it. That's when I knew this group was nothing but a bunch of right wing Uncle Tarek shills for US/Israeli imperialism and aggression.

But nice try, drdon.

[drdon326]

18. WOW....

So much hate and venom against Arabs and Muslims who want peace.

[bigbillhaywood]

21. I figured that response was the goal of your previous post-- to lbait me

into labeling them Uncle Toms or apologists for American/Israeli imperialism. Unfortunately, the facts support that analysis, so I decided to take the bait and see if you would actually respond to the substance of my post-- i.e. how can Arab/Muslims really be for peace if they defend Israel without also defending the Palestinians' right to statehood?-- or if you would use my post to take a cheap shot and accuse me without basis of the same hate and venom I commented on earlier. I guess I have my answer.

However, until you address the substance of my post-- that these Arab-Americans have absolutely no interest in peace because they have no interest in a just resolution to the continued military occupation of Palestinian land-- your charge of "So much hate and venom against Arabs and Muslims who want peace" remains groundless.

If this organization clearly stated that they condemn suicide bombings, support the right of Israel to exist AND support Palestinian self-determination, then I would classify them as a peace group. However, they do not. They only criticize Palestinians and Arabs and give Israel a free pass-- this makes them an organization of right wing shills for US imperialism, nothing more. The fact they are Arab-Americans makes as much difference as Condi Rice being black. Imperialist agendas remain imperialist agendas no matter what the ethnicity of that agenda's author is.

I would expect a man of your education, drdon, to do better at outfoxing me. I know you've got it in you to present me with a real challenge and either prove me wrong on an issue or make me look foolish, so please put forth the effort I feel you are capable of.

[Forkboy]

22. love the faux outrage

:thumbsup:

[Djinn]

24. Another front brought to you by

Daniel Pipes et al.

[newyorican]

26. This is the kind of swill...

that encourages actions like this. Must make some here real proud.

[durutti]

19. Well, we know it's a hoax now...

But still... you do realize that there are attacks on Arabs and Muslims in France just as frequently, right? It's largely the far-right types who do this shit, not the Arabs.

[Flagg]

20. "It's largely the far-right types who do this shit, not the Arabs"

Actually nobody knows about that.