Sunday
Jul122009
On France's Zionist Fanatics
Issandr El Amrani
You never hear about this in Haaretz or the New York Times:
Thousands of books drenched in cooking oil – that is the latest exploit of the Zionist fanatics who regularly attack property and people in Paris and get away with it.
In the early afternoon of Friday, July 3, five men, mostly masked, stormed into the “Resistances” bookstore located in a quiet residential neighborhood of the 17th arrondissement in northwest Paris. To the startled women working in the shop, as well as two customers, they announcing that they were from the Jewish Defense League and began ripping books off shelves and tables, dousing them heavily with cooking oil, and then smashing four computers before leaving rapidly in a waiting vehicle.
The bookstore is owned and operated by Olivia Zemor and Nicolas Shashahani, who are also the leaders of the very active militant group CAPJPO-EuroPalestine (CAPJPO stands for Coordination des Appels pour une Paix Juste au Proche Orient). In addition to a wide collection of books on the Middle East and other subjects, including fiction, the bookstore has a reading room and a lending library, gives courses in English and Arabic, and possesses a modest but well-attended auditorium where authors are invited to speak.
Two and a half years ago, on December 7, 2006, a similar attack squad threw teargas grenades into the bookstore as a crowd was gathering to listen to the late Israeli author Tanya Reinhart and her companion, the Israeli poet Aharon Shabtai. On that occasion, Shashahani had to be treated for effects from the teargas but material damage was slight. This time, the entire shop is a shambles, with countless ruined books, and damage runs to tens of thousands of euros, according to Shashahani.
But, he stresses, this is only one in “hundreds of violent actions” carried out by the French version of the banned US Jewish Defense League in recent years. There is no reason to expect them to stop so long as they can count on indulgence on the part of French authorities and the silence of the mainstream media. The vandalism on the Resistances bookstore was reported by the French news agency AFP, but the dispatch was apparently carried only by the small tabloid Le Parisien and not by the major newspapers, much less by television. Usually, almost the only people who are informed about such events are in the politically active circles targeted for intimidation.
Reader Comments (8)
It is a bit unfortunate that a blog on the Arab world takes it upon itself to distribute news of jews doing criminal things wherever they happen in the world.
Well it's unfortunate that I have to do so while supporting the Palestinian cause...
This isn't about "Jews doing criminal things," but about people supportive of Israel doing so in support of Israel, a crucial issue in the Arab world.
It seems perfectly natural that a blog about the Arab world would report on an attack against Arabs.
Indeed, thanks Brian. I would also add it's about those poor bookshop owners! As if they weren't under pressure enough already from Borders (or FNAC in France).
I was surprised to find that Haaretz actually did report on this: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1099148.html." target="_blank">http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1099148.html. According to that report, four of the five suspects have been arrested.
its not only ironic but conspiratorial that arab news seems to be the only venue willing (bold?) enough to print such things...
Thanks for the link, I stand corrected!