11 Responses

1. France…. the country that only belives in peace. This explains why they dont have any color in their flag OTHER THAN WHITE!

   Can anyone give me a list of wars, France as actually WON?

2. hypocrites. just a few short ago (3 or 4) they violently put down an uprising in a French colony in Africa.

   bozui atah me’od, says the novi.

3. Cheese eatin’ surrender monkeys!!

4. Makes you wonder who’s pulling on France’s strings. Why all the sudden they decide to speak now? hmmmmmmm? can you make the connection? no, no, no – it’s not the stars and stripes. guess again……. ok, I’ll give you a hint ……. a missle that can target 1,200 – 1,500 miles. bingo – you’ve just won the jackpot if you guessed it – “rat face” yes, he’s barking and he’s barking loudly. But, we shall not forget that “rat face” is only the stick that H-Shem is waving at us to wake up.

   If joe shmo has an appointment at the lottery office at 5:00am to collect his jackpot of $100 million and has to wake up at 3:30am in order to be there on time, his wife will probably first wake him up gently when the alarm clock fails to wake him. If that doesn’t do it, she will nudge him harder. If nothing works, she will get the “stick.”

   L’havdil, H-Shem is trying to wake us from this longated sleep so that we can come to His office and “collect” our prize.

5. A few episodes in France’s proud historical relationship with Israel:

   1969 – France refuses to provide five missile boats to Israel that Israel had already paid for. In a daring operation, Israel snatches the boats, anyway. (Google “Cherbourg Boats”).

   1977 – France releases Abu Daoud, one of the primary participants in the Munich massacre of Israeli athletes, despite Israeli protests (Google “France Abu Daoud”).

   1982 – France assists Iraq in construction of an Iraqi nuclear reactor. Israel destroys the reactor in an air raid. Subsequent expert analysis of the reactor’s design determines that it “is all wrong” for peaceful power-generating purposes (US News and World Report).

   2004 – France extends a hero’s welcome to Arafat upon his arrival for medical treatment. Upon his death, President Chirac hails him as “a man of courage”.

   2001 – French ambassador M Charpentier describes Israel as “that ****** little country, Israel” (nivul peh omitted) and questions ““Why should we be in danger of world war three because of these people?” (Google ”french ambassador israel “little country””)

   I think the French ambassador’s remark is still reflective of France’s view of Israel.

   Remind me please – why should we care about what France has to say?

6. The fact that most countries, the US included, refuse to locate their embassy in West Jerusalem (i.e. parts of the city under Israeli control prior to 1967) shows that they do not accept the idea of any Jewish control of any part of Jerusalem (and arguably, of anything more than the 1947 partition plan, or a return to the status quo ante of 1914, as the Arabs demand).

7. If not for the US the french would be speaking german! WHO CARES what they think about Yerushalayim!!! Is the future of Am Yisrael or Eretz Yisrael or Yirushalayim up to the french!?!?! Yirushalayim will be ALL Jewish LONG after the french government (and the UN and the EU)are long forgotten!!!

8. @2 isnt there flag red white and blue?

9. charliehall-

   France and England were both Israeli allies in the 1956 war vs. Egypt.
   Eisenhower’s administration was among those that pressured Israel, Britain and France to stop.
   You are also correct that Israel had French Mirages in its air force (it even had a Messerschmidt or two at one point).
   The change in the French-Israeli relationship occurred shortly after the six-day war, and has been pretty much as I described ever since.
   As soon as I posted earlier, it occurred to me that 1981 was the year of the Osirak raid, but I wasn’t going to repost to fix that. I wasn’t aware that Iran had attacked it, but it makes sense since they were in the midst of an eight-year war started by Saddam Hussein, who wrongly thought that post-revolutionary Iran would be a soft target. Apparently, the Iranian raid wasn’t successful, since Israel subsequently had to do the job.
   As far as times changing people, that may be a French trait – see Petain, Henri.

10. Uhh charliehall…

    Charlemagne was German (Frankish) not French.

    William is defined as English.

    Your kidding bragging about Napoleon, right?

    Mitterland was an anti-semite, like most of the French, till the end.

    Please get your history straight and pass the Freedom Fries.

11. charliehall –

    Furthermore, as far as your reply to “Mark Levin”, I don’t quite agree with all your points:

    1) Charlemagne conquered most of Europe. Agreed

    2) William the Conquerer was a Frenchman of Viking ancestry who conquered England. Agreed, the last time England was successfully invaded.
    Godfrey of Bouillon Hugh of Vermandois, and Raymond of Toulouse were the three French leaders (out of four leaders total) who won the First Crusade. (Would that they had not!) Don’t know, but I’ll assume you’re correct.

    3) Philip II defeated King John of England. Kind of. The story is quite complicated, but King John was eventually dispossessed of his French holdings.

    4) Charles VII defeated the English over and over again, removing them essentially permanently from the European continent. Once again, kind of. He lost some battles, and won several battles, eventually driving England from most of France. Joan of Arc figured prominently.

    5) France under Louis XVI was as much a military winner in the American Revolution as the former colonies, but the new United States stabbed its ally in the back by negotiating a separate peace with Britain once a pro-American government came to power in 1782. Disagree and Disagree. The Continental Army had major help from Lafayette, as well as Von Steuben and Pulaski. France may have enjoyed Britain’s humiliation due to sore feelings over the French and Indian wars, but they didn’t gain from the US’s independence. The US didn’t stab anyone in the back. The continental army was a ragtag bunch that almost all returned to civilian life after independence, and the navy was almost non-existent.

    6) Napoleon conquered most of Europe. True. Then he met his Waterloo.

    7) France conquered Algeria in 1830. Not impressive. They also took Vietnam

    8) France was on the winning side in the Crimean War. Agreed.

    9) France was on the winning side of the Austro-Sardinian War. Agreed

    10) But the most amazing effort by the French military has to be the First Battle of the Marne, in 1914. Badly outnumbered by the German invaders, it stopped the German invasion cold with little help from the tiny British force as Britain had yet to mobilize, much less get its armies across the Channel. Paris taxicabs were used to take reserve soldiers to the front, often to quick death at the hands of the efficient German military (not yet in the hands of anti-Semites). Instead of a defeat in six weeks, the war ended up in a French victory in 4 1/2 years (aided by Britain and the US). Agreed… but. That was a defensive battle, not a war. At the time of WW I, the French military was quite possibly more anti-Semitic than the German military (the Dreyfus frame-up).

    Personally, I don’t apply ancient history when evaluating a country’s current loyalties or military proficiency.
    France has an unbroken forty-year record of being at best indifferent to terrorist attacks against Israel, as well as assisting Israel’s mortal enemies with their weaponry, including potentially nukes.
    I did not even mention (until now) the terrible increase of attacks on Jews in France, as well as the statement (I don’t remember if it was by a Mayor or other official, or the exact quote) that they were “unable to protect the Jews” living in their own country.

    If you’d like to continue this discussion, I suggest opening a thread in the Coffee Room. http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/coffeeroom/