Reaction to Zemmour's excesses on Judaism

Didier BERTIN - November 20, 2021

I-Inappropriate reactions of certain French Jewish intellectuals

Faced with Zemmour's anti-Semitic provocations, we see that some French Jewish intellectuals try to be too intelligent and miss the point. They do not qualify Zemmour's words with terms that suit his inane outrageousness. Zemmour’s position does not arise from a subtle analysis but from crude personal convictions dressed in historical arguments perverted by the extreme ideologies to which he refers. The fact that Zemmour has a Jewish origin while attacking Judaism is an aggravating factor; it is thus futile to attempt to do a psychotherapist analysis regarding him.

II-Zemmour's attacks on Captain Dreyfus

Zemmour had begun to instill his poison in his program "Face à l'info" (in front of news) of September 29, 2020 on CNEWS subsidiary of the Canal Plus Group, which is a channel which seems to support Zemmour ideas. CNEWS which has provided Zemmour with a presidency a program (Face à info) of which he was in fact "the only conductor" up to his pre-candidacy as  president at the national elections. He had denounced Emile Zola there for having tarnished, according to him, the honor of the French army by defending Captain Dreyfus, and had suspected both the honesty of Emile Zola and that of Captain Dreyfus. His despicable words are based on his sole conviction that "the honor of the French army is above justice" (see my article: http://www.promotion-of-a-new-model-of-human-rights-and-duties.org/pages/anti-semitism/zemmour-versus-zola-et-dreyfus.html).

On October 15, 2020 Zemmour resumed his offensive against Captain Dreyfus on his CNEWS channel, mentioning false evidence as such provided  by the anti-Jew Bertillon (see my article of October 17, 2020 - http://www.promotion-of-a-new-model-of-human-rights-and-duties.org/pages/anti-semitism/dreyfus-zemmour-a-encore-instille-son-poison.html).

Thus, according to Zemmour, the failures of the French army thereafter were due to the fact that it was not protected "from" Justice during this affair.

Dreyfus’ affair was a climax for Theodor Herzl who decided on this occasion to found the Zionist movement which will give birth to the State of Israel which is alien for Zemmour.

III-Zemmour's hostile position towards Israel

On December 8, 2020 Zemmour declared "in his program (face à l’info) on his channel CNEWS" that if Israel had the atomic bomb he did not see why Iran would not have it (see my article of December 16, 2020 – http://www.promotion-of-a-new-model-of-human-rights-and-duties.org/pages/anti-semitism/cnews-1ere-chaine-de-desinformation-de-france.html).

Zemmour moreover questioned the French nationality of the Jewish victims of Mohammed Merah in the same way as that of their murderer on the basis of the sole fact that they were buried abroad, that is to say in Israel for the victims and in Algeria for the murderer. This assertion, which adheres to the theses of anti-Semitic ideologists, and his support for Petain objectively make him an anti-Semite.

IV-Zemmour's support for Petain historically leads him to support Nazism, its expansion and its humanitarian consequences

According to various sources, in January 2020, Zemmour had lunch with Jean-Marie Le Pen and Ursula Painvin born Ribbentrop and who is the daughter of Ribbentrop, Hitler’s foreign minister, hanged in Nuremberg. 88-year-old Ursula Ribbentrop would regret nothing of her father's past and would have encouraged Zemmour by sharing “her most admiring and friendly thoughts" with him.

Fortunately, it has become rare to find such staunch supporters of Petain in France, and in this Zemmour is part of a small group of people totally devoid of humanity. Zemmour has managed to find supporters only by exploiting the vein of xenophobia fueled by Islamist terrorism, but this strategy could fail on long run.

Support for Petain equals support for the Nazis because Petain was one of their best allies. Not only was Petain a dictator who advocated anti-Semitism like Hitler, but the consequences of his policy were not limited to only  72,000 Jewish deported from France to extermination camps as it is  unfortunately too often thought;  Petain’s action goes further indirectly by including a significant portion of the victims of the Eastern Front and of the Holocaust. We remind that the number of victims in the eastern front amounted to 36 million and that 6 million Jews were exterminated (see my article of June 12, 2013 – http://www.promotion-of-a-new-model-of-human-rights-and-duties.org/pages/seconde-guerre-mondiale/realite-du-2e-conflit-mondial-1-2- 1.html).

France's support for Nazi Germany and its consequences for human losses born on the Eastern Front and those due to the Shoah:

After the invasion of Poland, France declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939 as part of its contractual obligations but without intervening. On June 14, 1940 the Germans occupied Paris. On June 22, 1940 Petain gave his agreement to sign on behalf of France and as President of the Council (following the resignation of Paul Raynaud) an armistice, the conditions of which already constituted a first substantial support for Germany. The generous terms of this armistice, and the zealous cooperation of the French authorities with Germany that followed, facilitated the offensive in the East a year later and subsequently the onset of the Holocaust.

The pacification of one of the largest European states that is France by its own authorities has enabled greater availability of German troops in the East, reinforced by the supply to Germany of arms, foodstuffs, financing, 60,000 volunteer combatants and 650,000 workers in 1943-44 who together with prisoners of war constituted a French workforce in Germany amounting to 1,500,000 people.

History books in France focus on the misdeeds of Petainism in France without measuring its consequences on the Eastern Front and on the Holocaust.

Immediately after the Armistice, the congress, meeting in Vichy, gave on July 10, 1940 (569 votes out of 669) the full powers to Petain which allowed him to found a dictatorship allied with Nazi Germany through its acts and its ideological convictions.

The text of the armistice included conditions designed to support Germany financially, militarily and politically.

France provided funding for the maintenance of the German army for an amount of 439 million francs on average "per day": 400 million per day from June 1940 to May 1941 - 300 million per day from May 1941 to November 1942 and 500 Million per day from May 1942 to August 1944, that is to say a total of 639 billion francs and on average "150 billion francs per year".

Since 1940, the French state has pursued a policy of zealous cooperation with Nazi Germany on the basis of ideological concordance while establishing a policy of national contrition for the redemption of the slackening of France according to Petain before the war.

France of Petain wanted to be a good partner of the Axis in order to have a place of choice in the future Europe led by Germany and provided it with very substantial help in this regard, in particular in the following areas which lead us far from Zemmour's nationalist rantings:

Economic and financial: by deliveries of goods and various foodstuffs, by the payment of 439 million francs per day on average and by the labor left to Germany (French prisoners) and delivered to Germany as part of the STO (Compulsory Labor Service).

In 1943, France paid almost 40% of its GDP to Germany. In 1943-1944, “650,000 young French workers were sent by French Authorities to Germany (STO)”. This also represents a potential transfer of GDP (Gross Domestic Product). The transfer of GDP was further increased by the presence of French prisoners on duty in Germany. The French workforce in Germany had thus reached, as we have mentioned, 1,500,000 people in 1943-44.

Military: In addition to the financial and economic participation of France devoted to the German war effort, France had delivered weapons, had blocked its fleet, and had largely participated in the construction of the wall of the Atlantic thanks to French companies and French labor financed with French money. France had also provided around 60,000 volunteer fighters on the Eastern Front from 1943 to 1944. All aircraft produced in French factories under occupation were used by the German army. France had guaranteed the maintenance of order on its territory and thus Germany could have de facto more troops available on the Eastern Front. We are a long way from Zemmour's rantings about maintaining the honor of the army above the action of Justice in the interest of the French Nation.

Antisemitism: by laws restricting the activity of Jews, by depriving them of their rights, honor and property and by locally organizing deportations to extermination camps sometimes beyond German demands. A militia of 35,000 French people, the police and the gendarmerie took part in the application of the anti-Semitic policy of France.

France's zealous cooperation with Germany therefore substantially and objectively increased Nazi power on the Eastern Front and in the implementation of the Holocaust. We are therefore far from Zemmour's rantings on Petain’s protection of the Jews.

V-CONCLUSION

Zemmour is therefore "objectively very "hostile to the Jewish people, their identity and their steadfast connection to the land of Israel. His statements on the Dreyfus affair, on Iran, on the Sandler’s family are very significant in this regard. As we have seen Petainism implies support for Nazism.

Petain’s responsibility cannot be limited to that of his actions in France given his substantial support for the action of Nazi Germany which could only facilitate the offensive in the East (36 million dead) and the extermination of six million Jews. Petain’s responsibility therefore includes in part the Nazi crimes in Europe because of his broad support for Germany. The dignitaries of his regime took refuge in Germany after their defeat and Petain had to join them there.

On August 15, 1945, after his arrest, Petain was convicted of intelligence with the enemy and of high treason. He was condemned to death, national indignity, confiscation of his property, dismissal from all official functions and his military degradation forbidding him to wear the French uniform.