The Fool wrote: >http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51314-2002Apr25.html >The French were the vanguard of this modern anti-Semitism that can >tolerate the Jew as victim but not as historical actor. It was 35 years >ago at the outbreak of the Six Day War that Charles de Gaulle cut off >French support for Israel, denouncing its audacity in fighting for its >life over his objections. But he did not stop there. He later went on to >famously denounce the Jews as "an elite people, sure of itself and >domineering." > Of course, what really pisses off the French is that when they pulled support, they effectively rendered the Israeli Air Force impotent because they used mostly French aircraft that needed spares. But instead of accepting this, the Israelis made their own stuff and ended up with aircraft that were considerably better than the ones the French had.
I'm sure there are many wonderful French individuals, but as a nation state, they are awfully lacking in redeeming qualities. (maybe that's my radioactive South Pacific locality clouding my judgement, maybe it's the blood of my grandfather in the Somme, maybe it's the outrageous price they charge for a cup of coffee). But for any Frenchman to say of another people that they are "an elite people, sure of itself and domineering" is ironic. Cheers Russell C.
