Today’s quote comes to us from French President Emmanuel Macron, addressing yesterday’s solemn remembrance on the 75th anniversary of France’s Vichy Government deporting the Jews of Paris.
Here is what Mr. Macron had to say to the audience – which included Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu:
“There are those who say Vichy wasn’t France. It is true that Vichy wasn’t all of France, but Vichy was the government of France and the French establishment. It was responsible for deporting French Jews, and not the Germans.
“We have a responsibility to realize where and when we have failed. The underground and those who rescued Jews saved France’s dignity, but the Vichy government was the reality. It’s convenient and easy to see Vichy as something perpetrated by foreign agents but it was the reality. You can’t build pride on a lie.
“(regarding anti-Zionism and anti-Israel expressions) it’s a new type of anti-Semitism.”
President Macron wins Quote Of The Day honors for his honesty regarding a shameful period in French history – untypical of most heads of state…
…and his understanding that so much of the “I have no problems with Jews, it’s just that damn Zionism and/or Israel” is a hot steam load of thinly masked classical anti-Semitism.
