WHAT CHIRAC LEARNED FROM LE PEN :

French president accuses Israel of conducting anti-France campaign (The Associated Press, 5/12/02)

French President Jacques Chirac raised the possibility on Saturday of "consequences" if Israel did not put a halt to a campaign presenting France as an anti-Semitic country, the president's spokeswoman said.

In a telephone conversation with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Chirac spoke out "with force against the campaign," spokeswoman Catherine Colonna said. "At a time when the French massively demonstrated their refusal of racism, of xenophobia and of anti-Semitism, this campaign is not acceptable," Chirac was quoted as saying.

Actions like this, whipping up French sentiment against Israel, may be merely anti-Zionist in and of themselves, but they are surely designed to
appeal to France's general anti-Semitism. Posted by Orrin Judd at May 11, 2002 7:43 PM