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Op-Ed

I’m a French oleh and I’m staying home, staying safe in Israel

Do You remember this press conference of November 27, 1967 given at the Elysee Palace by General de Gaulle? He was then President of the French Republic, and remained famous for the statement he made about the State of Israel, Zionism and the Jewish people.

It was during the aftermath of the Six Day War, when Israel’s very existence had been threatened, but which Israel won in a lightening campagin – doing this against his advice not to engage in hostilities. He called Israelis an “elite people, sure of themselves and domineering” and described Israel as an expansionist state.

The conference took place a few months after the Six Day War, during which relations between France and Israel had already been degraded by several actions by France:

  • The embargo on arms sales decided on June 2 by Gaulle,
  • The communiqué of the Council of Ministers of June 15 condemning ‘the opening of hostilities’ by Israel,
  • And finally the support of France on November 22 for resolution 242 of the Security Council of the United Nations which calls for the end of the military occupation of the ‘Palestinian territories’ by Israel.

I can only observe that Charles De Gaulle had little knowledge of history and lack perspective in assessing foreign policy. Interests come first.

Judea and Samaria were territories illegally occupied by Jordan between 1948 and 1967.

The famous “little phrase” said by elite, self-confident and domineering General de Gaulle had a strong impact on Israeli society, the Jews of France and also Jews around the world and many politicians sympathetic to the cause of the Jewish State.

Among these reactions we can note a cartoon by Tim in Le Monde from December 3-4, 1967, representing a deported Jewish, emaciated person, wearing the yellow star, with his hand in his shirt like Napoleon, and the subtitle “self-confident and domineering.”

53 years later, France, the 6th power in the world, experiences a disaster as deep as that which it had known in May 1940.

Proud France believed it had the best health care system in the world, as it believed it had the best army in the world in 1940.

The French are angry at the irresponsibility of their leaders.

At the time of writing this article, France, the dear country of my childhood, has 21,340 dead.

The testimonies of French people on social networks are overwhelming, the media delight in the official version.

Everyone wonders why this country with renowned institutes like the Institut Pasteur, the Inserm, the Cnrs and where wine and cheese flow and everyone is so proud of it, there are not enough masks and respirators.

It seems the French healthcare system is not the best in the world as they [officials] dare to say.

And on April 12, as citizens of the European Union are dying by the thousands due to coronavirus, the EU decides to give 71 million euros to the corrupt Palestinian Authority. I believe France was the biggest donator.

It’s unfortunate that this tremendous amount of EU taxpayer money will most likely go to the pockets of Mahmoud Abbas and other corrupt members of the Palestinian Authority.

And when France condemns Israeli decision to build in Judea and Samaria, they only perpetuate Charles de Gaulle’s politics.

France is no longer a great country, but a banana republic of the Third World bloated with arrogance and meanness.

In May 2012, when I made Alyah, I wrote in an article:

“France excels in its economic lack of culture. I find this quite surprising on the part of a country which invented cinema, photography, the Concorde and the TGV [high-speed rail service] and to which we owe some famous economists.

France has missed the digital revolution. It lags behind new technologies. With its collectivism, it practices state totalitarianism, the very negation of the individual, and his most natural and inalienable rights. ”

France has a null, incompetent and dangerous government for millions of French citizens. Every day for a month, I receive testimonies from family members and friends who are disgusted and tired of this situation, and they feel abandoned.

  • A health ministry whose officials think only of their salaries, their careers, their own interests without worrying about the vital needs of the French.
  • A defeat without measures against the Corona virus as in June 1940 when France capitulated.

The price is very heavy, we are talking about 21,340 dead in less than 1 month and those who run the country are accountable.

In 1789, Marie-Antoinette, Queen of France and wife of Louis XVI said ‘If they have no bread, let them eat brioche’ words spoken at the window of the Palace of Versailles, in front of the Parisian people who came to the King complaining about the increase in the price of bread.

We all know how that ended.

And my life? Today I live in Israel, the safest country against coronavirus. The goal here is to save lives and I must admit that Israel is doing a great job fighting the pandemic.

I am proud to be Israeli.

Original: Abraham Chicheportiche – Arutz Sheva