May 10, 2002: Air France PROTEST Press Release For Immediate Release Wednesday, May 10, 2002   Over 300 demonstrators rallied on Tuesday in front of the Air France terminal building (Terminal 1) at JFK Airport. The purpose of the demonstration was to call attention to the resurgence of anti-semitism in France which is reminiscent of the anti-semitism under the French Vichy regime during the Holocaust. The demonstration, which was organized by the Rambam Mesivta, a yeshiva high school for boys in Lawrence, Long Island, was timed to coincide with Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. Yom HaShoah is the date on which Jewish communities throughout the world commemorate the Holocaustís victims and heroes. Rabbi Zev Meir Friedman, Dean of the Mesivta, noted that, ìthe past few months have seen a growing trend of anti-semitic attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions throughout France, culminating in synagogue burnings, the desecration of Torah scrolls, the vandalizing of Jewish cemeteries and gunmen firing upon Jewish business establishments. The parallel between these events and the experience of French Jews during the Vichy regime is simply chilling.î ìYom HaShoah is the date on which we not only look to the historical events of the Holocaust, but also reexamine the lessons of that experience and how we can employ them in our daily lives. The seminal lesson of the Holocaust is this: that evil must be identified and confronted. If men and women of good will remain silent in the face of evil - it can grow and spread until it reaches catastrophic proportions.î Rabbi Friedman enumerated numerous parallels between the current situation in France and the sad experiences of the French Vichy regime during the Holocaust. ìIn Vichy France, synagogues and Jewish schools were torched by thugs with the complicity or complacence of the French authorities; that is happening in France today as well. In Vichy France, Jews were attacked in the streets, where chants of ìheil Hitler!î and ìdeath to the Jews!î were commonly heard; today the chants are the same only todayís version is ìvive Bin Laden!î. Vichy government officials were notably anti-semitic; todayís French officials, such as Franceís ambassador to the U.N., Daniel Bernard, directs obscene remarks at Jews and the Jewish state.î Rabbi Friedmanís words were punctuated by chants from the audience of, ìstop the terror, stop the hate!î and ìfire ambassador Bernard!î To highlight the similarities between these periods, the Mesivtaís students wore yellow stars emblazoned with the word ìJuifî, replicating the distinctive yellow star that French Jews were compelled to wear during the Vichy regime. The students also waved American flags and displayed posters, such as one, which read, ìliberte(, equalite(, and colaborate(!î Rabbi Raphael Berdugo, whose family are leaders in the Jewish community of Marseilles, France, recounted how the yeshiva in Marseilles had recently been firebombed and restored. ìThis past week, when members of the kehilla rallied in the large demonstration against terror and anti-semitism which was organized by the Marseilles Jewish community, the building was firebombed again!î ìThere is genuine fear within the French Jewish community,î said Rabbi Berdugo. ìMany of us remember only too well the nightmare of the Holocaust and the Vichy regime. For us, this is like reliving the nightmare of the 1940s.î Students of the Rambam Mesivta, a yeshiva high school for boys in Lawrence, Long Island, have been at the forefront of numerous Jewish causes. The students have spearheaded efforts to expose and bring to justice former Nazi war criminals living in western countries, and have held rallies in support of Americaís war on terror. The students recently organized a public information and media campaign against the Jewish Museumís exhibition, ìMirroring Evil: Nazi Imagery/Recent Artî, which trivialized and commercialized the Holocaust. Rabbi Yotav Eliach, the Mesivtaís Principal, accused the French authorities of turning a blind eye to incidents of domestic terror perpetrated by Islamic fundamentalists. ìFrance has become the European haven for sponsors of Islamic terror,î he said. He also accused the French government of Characterizing its foreign policy as being based on ìhumanitarianî concerns when, in fact, if was primarily motivated by parochial French self-interest. ìThere are numerous international issues on which the French remained curiously silent. They did not speak up about the desecration of the Jewish holy sites in Jerusalem when it was under Jordanian and Palestinian control between 1949 and 1967. They did not speak out about the deaths of approximately 140,000 Lebanese, many of them Christians, during the PLOís reign of terror in that country in the 1980s. They did not speak out when Saddam Hussein gassed the Kurds, nor have they spoken out about the lack of a Kurdish homeland. Perhaps thatís because Iraq and other Arab countries, like Iran, are such loyal business partners of the French.î Rabbi Eliach also noted the different approaches of the American and French governments. ìWhen the United States was attacked by Arab terrorists on September 11th, there was a concern that the local Moslem population would be targeted by acts of bigotry. Accordingly, American political leaders all spoke out forcefully in support of Americaís Moslem communities. The French governmentís anti-Israel policy should clearly have been seen as a potential invitation for attacks on the French Jewish community, yet there was no parallel statements of support for that community.î Rabbi Eliach concluded by calling on the French government to publicly and unequivocally denounce anti-Semitism and commit itself to concrete steps to purge this phenomenon. ìThere is a disturbing pattern to French history and, indeed, to much of European history,î said Yigal Gross, a Rambam senior who attended the rally. ìAnti-semitism lurks just beneath the surface and it takes very little to bring it to life. We would expect that the French government would acknowledged this historical pattern and move quickly to deal with it. Unfortunately, that hasnít been the case. In fact, the French authorities are attempting to minimize the significance of these incidents, characterizing them as random or isolated events.î He concluded: ìJust as a country which harbors terrorists is itself a terrorist state, so too a country which harbors and fails to combat anti-Semitism is itself anti-Semitic.î Tzvi Werblowsky, another Rambam senior, noted: ìwe are holding the rally at the Air France terminal to caution American travelers about the current situation in France. Racism, anti-Semitism and nationalistic hatred are the fertile ground on which terrorism flourishes. Unless the French government acts, American travelers should just say ìnoî to France.î Rambam Mesivta ñ Press Release     For More Info, Please contact Elliot Plotnick at 516-371-5824   Rambam Mesivta 15 Frost Lane Lawrence, NY 11559 516-371-5824 516-371-4706 (fax) RAMBAM MESIVTA Back to Press main page