A Cautionary Tale Re Free Speech (or the Distinct Lack Thereof) In France

Tablet has the très convoluted tale of Georges Benssousan. He's a French Jewish historian who is associated with Shoah memorial, and who is now being prosecuted for "racism." His alleged "crime": he spoke these words on the radio:

Today, we are in the presence of another people inside of the French nation, and this results in the fact that a certain number of democratic values that structured our society are now regressing. There won’t be any integration as long as we will not get rid of this atavistic anti-Semitism, which is concealed as a secret. Just let me quote an Algerian sociologist, Smaïn Laacher, who with great courage said as much in the documentary. “It is a shame,” he said, “to maintain this taboo that in Arab families in France—and everybody knows this but nobody wants to say it—anti-Semitism, it is suckled along with mother’s milk.

It was that "mother's milk" line--which was actually uttered by an Algerian, and which Benoussan was merely quoting--that sealed the Shoah memorializer's fate--and ensured his state prosecution. (It reminds me of the time Mark Steyn got in trouble for citing the words of a Norwegian imam.)

A few things to observe from this. First, France is screwed, and so are its Jews. Second, don't think it can't happen here, because every indication is that it can.

Finally, Jews cannot and should not count on Holocaust remembrance to inoculate the world against Jew-hate for the sake of "Never Again!"