Sarko Won’t Shake Hands with Israel’s Enemies

Nicolas Sarkozy’s speech before the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF) was something of a ticking trap. Bakchich was the first to alert French defenders of the separation of Church and State (known in France as “laics”) that the President of the French Republic, in addition to announcing a program assigning every fifth-grader in French the responsibility to preserve the memory of one of the 11,000 Jewish children who died in deportation, has also arranged for the arrival of the clergy in public primary schools. “At some point in their education, both as students and as human beings, our children have the right to meet people who have devoted themselves to religion, who can open them up…”, he stated.

Were they blinded by the camera-flash effect of our religious lunatic of a president’s announcement ? Another nugget in Carla Bruni’s husband’s speech was ignored in France. But not by the Arabo-Muslim world – to generalize in the manner of Claude Guéant, the Elysée Palace’s General Secretary – which picked them up right away. The stakes were raised when Sarkozy declared “I solemnly promise never to shake hands with anyone who doesn’t recognize the state of Israel.” So there. “So how is the president going to pay a state visit here ?” is what everyone wants to know in Tunis.

“So how is the French president going to pay a state visit ? they ask in Tunisia"

Pronounced in the Bois de Boulogne before the faithful of the CRIF and their dinner guests, who included the entire government – except Transportation Secretary Dominique Bussereau, stuck in an airborne traffic jam — a good bit of the opposition and even the General Delegate for Palestine, the promise isn’t binding to anyone except the man who pronounced it.

In Tunis, however, it has caused quite a stir. The question on everybody’s lips is, “So how is the French president going to pay a state visit (in the near future), without shaking the hand of our beloved leader, President Ben Ali ?” Following the League’s lead, except for Egypt and Jordan, there isn’t a single Arab country that recognizes the State of Israel !

When Sarko embraced Bouteflika in Algiers, he held a man who doesn’t recognize the state of Israel. So no hugs for Ben Ali… Yet, after Gaddafi and since January 1st, before his show (hugs included) in Riyadh, where you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who isn’t firmly opposed to recognizing Israel, the tenant of the Elysée Palace has shaken hands with, among others, Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf, the Sultan of Brunei, and Fouad Siniora, Prime Minister of Lebanon. Representatives of countries that turn their backs on Israel one and all.

This new policy will make it tricky to sell Rafales (French combat planes) or nuclear plants, whisper our arms dealers, who tend to try to stay on Arabs’ good side, when they’re wealthy. Losing sales ? Try Tsahal.

Translated by : Regan Kramer

To read the french version, that’s here.

To hear (in french) Nicolas Sarkozy, that’s here.