Bonjour. It’s not even 6 A.M. and I am writing. I am going to France soon, very soon and I dream of Medan, Drancy, the Assemblée Nationale, Paris, la Rue St. Michel (spent so many days walking around to the Boulevard St. Germain, coq au vin, poulet basquaise, boeuf Bourguignons, baguettes, croissants, vin rouge, and just having a successful trip that could include even imams and Jewish leaders.
The book I am reading has about 515 pages of reading material and I am nearing the conclusion in time to take off for Paris. The chapter is Pensez Vacances and yes, I am thinking about this vacation. In the last weeks, I had thought about the invasion of France by the Nazis in 1940 and packed between the pages in this chapter filled with words like bourse, blouson, slip, laine, sport, and taille were L’Exode, Vichy, and Jeux interdit and the story.
That story was on my mind as I thought about the bombing of Gaza. Weeks had passed and I couldn’t believe what I was reading in French. And this was a better description of the evacuation of Paris than I had previously read.
A young couple and their daughter Paulette (Brigitte Fossey) aged 6 or 7 and her little dog flee Paris in a car. People are fleeing with valise, bags, children (low age), carts are being pushed or pulled, horse drawn carts, automobiles, and small vans.
A Messerschmidt attacks and everyone panics, scattering. People hit the ground face first. Bombs are released from planes above. Things are shattered into dust by the bombs.
This is war and the attack on Gaza was provoked by the October 7, 2024, massacre. Cries are heard everywhere. Soon the people fleeing continue the route.
We see the couple in their car, the little girl (une 202 Peugeot décapotée or convertible) sitting on the knees. The engine crache et ne démarre pas or it stops and does not start again. Le moteur semble mort or the motor seems dead.
It is time to give up and walk with the others. A trail of bullets strikes the father and mother near Paulette who does not know what is going on. The mother faces the sky, eyes closed. Paulette gently caresses her mother’s cheek (joue). Paulette soon sees the identical face of her father. By her side, Paulette notices the chien or dog. She picks it up, squeezing it in her arms murmuring her name.
The attack continues. Paulette is afraid, she soon leaves with her dead dog in her arms.
And there was no opposing military mentioned in this script.
And during those days, leading up to writing this, I thought about the United States when Nazis and their supporters confronted Jews and vice versa. Madison Square Garden probably is the place most people think about (the old Madison Square Garden). And I think about the conflict between Jews and Muslims in France and North Africa as a war was going on in Algeria and people thought about Israel and the War in 1967.
And so many things are playing out on campuses right now, but what do we really know? Are we there to see and witness things? What do we believe? Should we believe Fox News which is telling US that it’s about the left and its hate for America? Should we believe what Jewish organizations are telling US and should we believe Palestinians, pro-Palestinians, and some Muslims? Should we? I say that the danger was there even before the Massacre in October and our nation did not properly act through education. It’s in my work!
And this came to mind.
The Attack on Hebron (1929) and More
Posted February 25, 2021
And one more thing to share is that one of the best-known Arabs who is repeatedly mentioned in the book about Palestine by Tom Segev. Khalil al-Sakakini sent his daughter Hala to a German school in Palestine, where the German children actually joined a branch of the Hitler youth. All the children in the school sang Deutschland Uber Alles and Raise the Flag, the Nazi Party anthem. Sakakini was a good man in many ways, but his politics included the hope that Hitler would liberate Palestine from the Jews.
Among the many thoughts that I have is this one. What would have happened if the Ottoman Turks had been on the winning side in World War I? That thought would also provoke what would have happened to US.
So why do I bring this up today in 2924. Anyone that doesn’t know Tom Segev’s work must take note of how he explains what happened in 1948 or what is known as the Nakba. I just had an exchange of thoughts with a very influential Muslim that you will read about soon. It is not the first time that I have had the occasion to learn about Hitler and The Final Solution and Muslim thinking. What I am saying is that the thought is blame Hitler and Europe because Muslim-Jewish relations were not even close to what Hitler did. And keep in mind that Black people wanted to join the Hitler youth in Nazi Germany.
Let’s move the scenario to America before Pearl Harbor. Republican leaders on Long Island were members of the Ku Klux Klan. Ku Klux Klan joined with fascists on the West Coast, along with even Mexican fascists. The NRA or National Rifle Association got involved in the plotting, because guns were needed to oust FDR and change the United States.
This was Jim Crow America and an America intent on not letting Jews into our nation through immigration laws that were hateful. And with anti-Semites even within FDR’s family and his administration, there was no help for Jews. Jews had to hope for the best. More education was needed as it is needed right now. Alan Dershowitz is correct when he debates against pro-Palestinians that much or most of the Palestinians were with Hitler, but he falls short of attaining the greatness needed in his debates. You read what I wrote about Palestinians joining Hitler youth in Palestine and that is just one example. There are lots more and I have given examples in much of my writing.
Instead of fictional characters such as Paulette, her mother, father, and dog, let’s put real people into the time machine and send them back to that period.
Smiling Tim Scott praising Trump, an “enabler” of antisemitism. Lee Zeldin, a great Trump supporter, even though he must have read about Trump’s fascism somewhere and his comparisons to Hitler. Black and Jew united like ebony and ivory, together in their own perfect harmony. Side by side on some piano keyboard. Is it any shock to you that the first person executed in Greece after World War II for Nazi activities was a Jewish from a well-known family?
And all those Muslims and others in the United States who do not know enough history. Palestine waiting for Hitler. Iran controlled by Hitler a short time before FDR, Stalin, and Churchill met in Teheran. Iraq and a massacre against Jews, and North Africa waiting for Hitler to win,
The Nation of Islam must know that Minister Farrakhan said the “I know that we were next.” He said that thinking about being Black in Hitler’s world. The Muslim world back then was waiting for Hitler. Were Black people really safe? And Muslims had Hitler’s approval as “Aryans.”
And the beat goes on in Dearborn, Michigan and in other communities. The word is out by powerful people who are saying “Do not vote for Biden.” That may change before November. I have written that a fascist could become a communist and vice versa in one day because of self-interest. World War II often revealed that as people switched sides. President Biden’s commitment to the right of Israel to defend itself has not been broken. And he and the Congress are not complicit in “genocide.” That is just an opinion that is being spread.
In Gaza, the scenario is different, and we should remember that Israel did not just decide to invade causing more than 30,000 deaths by some whim. It was the massacre and the hostages that are part of that equation. I certainly do not wish to write the script of Gaza 2023-2024 and the Exode that wasn’t.
And I am saying that there are elements of the past going back to Palestine and the Muslim world and more liberal things going on today that have brought US to this situation. I knew about it almost a decade ago, but nobody was paying attention. And the world was deep into colonialism back then and French territories and the English mandate in Palestine saw Hitler as their solution, not the Allies. And in America, Jim Crow went on for 20 more years with only slight liberating changes. Jews, too, prejudice and discrimination. Actually, I started writing about it in the 1980s when Palestinians in New York understood, perhaps, more than many people understand today.
If we cannot have a much deeper discussion of the past, we will continue to make mistakes. And this information, for now, applies to the United States, France, and other nations. Au revoir! And I will continue reading other information in the chapter including La Consummation du vin en baisse en France.