After sixteen Saturday demonstrations by the "yellow vests," who began in November by protesting French President Emmanuel Macron's increase in fuel prices, the controversy seems to have taken a darker turn. Pictured: "Yellow vest" protestors near the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, on March 2, 2019.
After sixteen Saturday demonstrations by the "
yellow vests," who began in November by protesting French President Emmanuel Macron's increase in fuel prices, the controversy seems to have taken a darker turn.
That seems to have come to light on February 13, when a small group of demonstrators started hurling
insults at a French Jewish philosopher, Alain Finkielkraut -- who was born in and lives in Paris -- after they spotted him on a sidewalk. One man, shouted, "Shut up, dirty Zionist sh*t," "Go home to Tel Aviv," "France is ours," "God will punish you." A cameraman filmed the incident, then shared the
video on social networks. A scandal ensued. The "yellow vests" movement as a whole was immediately
accused by the French government of anti-Semitism and "fascism".
Finkielkraut claimed that he had not been attacked as a Jew, but as a supporter of the State of Israel. He then added that the man who had insulted him did not speak like a "yellow vest" and that the words "God will punish you" is an expression from "Islamic rhetoric". Police who watched the video identified the man as a radicalized Muslim, and the next day arrested him.In the days leading up to that incident, several anti-Semitic acts had taken place in and near Paris. The German word "
juden" [Jews] was
painted on the front of a Jewish bakery; swastikas were
drawn with a black marker on portraits of former Jewish minister Simone Veil;
trees that had been planted in memory of Ilan Halimi, a young Jew who had been kidnapped, tortured and murdered in 2006, were destroyed. Investigations have begun but nothing so far has shown any relationship between the "yellow vests" movement and any of these anti-Semitic acts. The French government nevertheless continues
accusing the "yellow vests" of being at least partly to blame.
Comment: There should be little doubt that the NSA, FBI and other agencies have regularly been spying on the American people for a very long time. That said, the infestation of corruption seems to have grown so large that the rats have come out in the daylight, and this is where the Carter Page issue is relevant for the majority of Americans who have placed blind trust in their government as a largely benevolent institution. The reaction to Trump (mainly his position toward Russia) led many visible people to act overtly in the same manner that the Deep State has always acted covertly. Some hefty veils have been more or less lifted for the average person, and that in itself is of great significance.