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September 19, 2005

No British Jews murdered in the Holocaust? Sacre bleu!

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Haaretz investigates a report of an amazing gaffe by the French Foreign Minister, and finds it true:

The French satirical magazine Le Canard Enchaine reported in its September 14th issue that during the visit of French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste—Blazy to the new Holocaust museum in Jerusalem's Yad Vashem on September 8, he asked — while perusing maps of European sites where Jewish communities had been destroyed — whether British Jews were not also murdered. Needless to say, Douste—Blazy's question was met by his hosts with amazement. "But Monsieur le minister," Le Canard quoted the ensuing conversation, "England was never conquered by the Nazis during World War II."

The minister apparently was not content with this answer, which, according to the magazine, was given by the museum curator, and persisted, asking: "Yes, but were there no Jews who were deported from England?"  

Why has this self—indicting blunder by the French Foreign Minister whose trip to Yad Vashem was described as "enriching and enlightening" not been reported elsewhere?

Clarice Feldman  9 19 05