Fourteen prominent French-Jewish academicians, including a Nobel Prize winner, angrily protested Gen. de Gaulle’s press conference attack on Israel and the Jewish people, in a letter sent to the French Chief of State today as criticism of his remarks continued to mount here and abroad. The letter declared in part, “We are deeply hurt by your words which may well revive the prejudices from which we have suffered.” The signatories included Professors Raymond Aron, Henri Baruk, Rene Cassin and Francois Jacob. Prof. Cassin was formerly president of the French Conseil d’Etat.
The Grand Rabbi of France, Dr. Jacob Kaplan, disclosed today that he had received scores of letters from “prominent and ordinary Frenchmen, Jews and non-Jews” supporting his reply to Gen. de Gaulle. The Grand Rabbi’s statement, issued on Nov. 30, charged the French President with giving “the highest possible sanction” to anti-Semitic discrimination and having defamed the Jewish people in order to shore up his denunciation of Israel as an aggressor. Dr. Kaplan told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that he replied to de Gaulle’s attack in greater detail before 1,000 people at a conference at Meudon, Dec. 5,on which occasion he quoted the words of Napoleon Bonaparte, who regarded the Jews as the “heirs de jure” – the legitimate heirs – to the land of Israel.
(Baron Alain de Rothschild, president of the Consistoire Central Israelite de France et d’Algerie, said in New York today that he did not consider Gen. de Gaulle an anti-Semite and declared it was “unthinkable” that the French Government would ever adopt an anti-Semitic attitude. The French banker, visiting the United States on invitation from the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, called the General’s Nov. 27 press conference critical remarks on Jews and Israel “naughty but not dramatic.” He added that the French leader’s remarks did not surprise anyone aware of his penchant for such public
statements. The Baron asserted that Frenchmen have always been well disposed toward Israel.)
De Gaulle was also condemned at a meeting here last night of the International League Against Anti-Semitism addressed by Senator Andre Monteil, who declared that the majority of the French people supported Israel. Referring to the embargo on the shipment of spare parts for Israel’s airforce which is made up mainly of the French Mirage and Mystere jets, Senator Monteil said “it is a scandal.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
