Natan Sharansky, noted Soviet dissident now living in Israel, has this to say about the recent French terrorist attacks and Europe’s reaction:
“This particular tragedy is a very tragic and powerful reminder for Europe that the time is running out for them—not for European Jews,” he added. “If France and the other Western nations will not fight quickly and strongly for reestablishing the civilization of liberal nations, Europe is in danger. The exodus of Jews, as many times in the past, is the first harbinger, a warning of where it goes.”
“The choice was made by the French Revolution in 1789 to recognize Jews as full citizens,” Valls told me [Jeffrey Goldberg]. “To understand what the idea of the republic is about, you have to understand the central role played by the emancipation of the Jews. It is a founding principle.”
Valls, a Socialist who is the son of Spanish immigrants [sic: his mother was Swiss and his father Spanish], describes the threat of a Jewish exodus from France this way: “If 100,000 French people of Spanish origin were to leave, I would never say that France is not France anymore. But if 100,000 Jews leave, France will no longer be France. The French Republic will be judged a failure.”
Valls made it a point, early in our meeting, to show me the desk used by one of his predecessors, the Jewish prime minister (and Dreyfusard) Leon Blum. “Jews were sometimes marginalized in France, but this was not Spain or other countries—they were never expelled, and they play a role in the life of France that is central,” he said.
It’s a sad commentary on Europe’s anti-Semitism that Valls’ defense of France’s treatment of its Jews amounts to often hated, never expelled. But that’s just being honest, and Valls has been quite forthright on the threat posed by Muslim terrorism.
[NOTE: Whatever one thinks of the Bible—whether it be the revealed word of God, a metaphor, or wishful thinking—Isaiah 60:12 is interesting in this context (in the following excerpt, “thee” refers to Israel):
For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.
Here’s the passage in its entirety. Quite interesting, indeed.
By the way, when I quote the Bible, I always try to use the King James version. Here’s why.]
