September 30, 2005
A Sense of History? Posted by Fredric Smoler at 01:40 PM EST The following item appeared last week in the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz: The French satirical magazine Le Canard Enchainé 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?” …According to an investigation by Ha’aretz on Sunday, the event actually occurred as described, although no official source was willing to confirm it… Philippe Douste-Blazy is considered a successful and prominent politician in France. A cardiologist by training, he served until a year ago as health minister. His visit to Israel was noted as an additional positive step in the warming of relations between Israel and France.
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