Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Still more Dreyfus
This Special Edition of WWPD concludes with a look at what's on the front page of Le Monde, 100 years after France acquitted the French-Jewish officer. There's a mention of the centennial, but the big story is the, well, war happening in Israel at the moment. So on the one hand, justice for Dreyfus and a state for those not willing to wait things out on Devil's Island, so to speak. On the other hand, that state's existence--and the right of Jews to leave peacefully as such while remaining in France--are continually under attack. Still, that a Jewish state was created in the first place, and that the French-Jewish reaction to the Halimi tragedy was so much more outspoken than the one to the Dreyfus Affair, should both be cause for optimism.
Still, that a Jewish state was created in the first place ... should ... be cause for optimism."
ReplyDeleteOf course, that state was created in significant part by the indulgence of the international community and its grant of legitimacy - first by the British Empire and then by the United Nations.
Hence, the determination of the mainly right wing governments of Israel over the past 30 years to defy the international community over the occupied territories should be regarded as a significant reason why that state's existence is currently imperiled.
"the right of Jews to leave [sic?] peacefully..."
ReplyDeleteFreudian slip?
Iser