by Giulio Meotti
Just a week ago, a man with a Palestinian flag and a keffiyeh set fire to the Beth Yaacov synagogue in La Grande-Motte, in the south of the country. In May, they burned the synagogue in Rouen.
And this week I read a chilling article by historian Marc Knobel about burned synagogues:
“It all started on October 1, 2000. What happened that day? A synagogue in the 19th arrondissement of Paris receives threats. A Molotov cocktail is thrown into the courtyard of the synagogue. The same day, a Molotov cocktail is thrown into a kosher restaurant in Paris. And, during the service, an unknown person leaves another in the courtyard of the Chnei Or school in Aubervilliers.
“The same type of explosive reached the synagogue in Clichy-sous-Bois. That day, three Molotov cocktails were thrown at the Ulis synagogue. The first level of the synagogue was completely destroyed, the rabbi went up to the first floor to escape death. In Trappes, the synagogue was completely devastated by a fire.
“A few days later, two incendiary devices were thrown at the Creil synagogue. During the night of October 12-13, 2000, one or more people broke two windows of the Bondy synagogue and threw one or more incendiary devices into the synagogue. In the capital, at 1:00 a.m., the door of a synagogue in the 20th arrondissement was set on fire. In the evening, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at the Tenoudji school in Saint-Ouen. Two incendiary bottles were thrown at the Chevilly-Larue synagogue. On the night of the 15th to the 16th, in Meudon, two Molotov cocktails were thrown at the synagogue. Someone who was there reportedly shouted ‘Allah Akbar’”.
That’s how it started, and since then dozens of synagogues have burned: from Bondy to Toulouse and Marseille to Trappes, and again and again.
Given the levels of anti-Semitism, “the Jews will not have more than a decade in France before they have to leave,” Rabbi Yaacov Bitton of Sarcelles has just denounced.
The churches fare no better.
The church of Saint-Omer, in the Pas-de-Calais, Inaugurated in 1859, has been devastated by flames. It had just been restored. The fire broke out at 4:30 in the morning. They wanted to destroy it. Despite the intervention of 120 firefighters sent to put out the flames, the bell tower and the structure collapsed. The municipality had just spent 5 million euros to restore it.
The culprit taken into custody this time is Joël Vigoureux (centre photo, Ed.) , a left-wing militant already convicted for other attacks on churches, who published pro-Palestinian, pro-Islamic, anti-Christian and Black Lives Matter comments on his social media.
A textbook case of self-hatred.
The Coptic Jean Messiha is right when he writes: “When a slice of ham is thrown at a mosque, the media calls for the rebirth of the Republic against the return of fascism and sings the partisans’ anthem over and over again. But when 40 churches are burned in less than a year, not a word is said by the media. Self-hatred as a prerequisite for love of one’s neighbor?”.
The news is merciless: “In Martigné-Briand, between Anjou and Mauges, in the church of Saint-Simplicien, the second arson attack in two months took away the confessional. In Dannevoux, in the Meuse, the altar of the church was targeted, burned on the day of Pentecost…”.
“In France, a church burns every two weeks,” declared the president of the Observatory of Religious Heritage Edouard de Lamaze to the website 76actu. Two-thirds of religious building fires are caused by arson, Lamaze told the Catholic News Agency. He also said that in France a mosque is built every 15 days while “a Christian building is destroyed at the same rate”.
When the church of Saint Louis in Fontainebleau was burned, Le Figaro commented: “Every day in France, nearly two places of worship or Christian burials are vandalized. But what is most revolting is that this massive destruction of our heritage systematically benefits from the most total indifference, both on the part of our political leaders and the main media channels. Many great figures have passed through the church of Saint Louis over the centuries. Between 1611 and 1614, Marie de Medici and Henri IV laid the foundations of this church. In 1661, Louis XIV and Anne of Austria built a chapel there. In 1868, Napoleon III completed the site. Now it burns, silently. Will ours be a century of destruction and indifference?”.
It might be worth keeping in mind Siegmund Freud’s warning: “A civilization that leaves so many of its members dissatisfied and drives them to revolt, neither has nor deserves the prospect of a lasting existence.”
When the cathedrals and synagogues of a nation burn, the pillars on which it was built are shattered with them, and the void opens up in which the devils of endless political correctness sleep and stir.
Au revoir, France: your synagogues and churches are burned | Israel National News – Arutz Sheva