|
|
NEWS
French Legion of Honor Goes to Israel Boycott Activist
By Arnon Yaffeh, Paris
Outgoing French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, in his last action in office, enraged Jewish activists fighting the boycott of Israel. Just moments before he left the opulent palace at Quai d'Orsay, Kouchner found time to award the Legion of Honor to Mustafa Barghouti. Standing among the packed crates, Kouchner pinned the coveted red ribbon on Barghouti's chest, despite the latter's anti-Israel activity in France. "We're showing him honor for his activity for peace and human rights in the Palestinian territories and for his unremitting struggle for Palestinian yearnings," Kouchner said breathlessly.
PLO representatives were on hand at the ceremony. The next day the Jewish Business Owners Union condemned the decision to award France's highest honor to the leader of an illegal boycott campaign against Israeli products in France. Barghouti signed calls to the French to boycott investments in Israel and not to purchase Israeli products and products by companies that trade with Israel. The Union noted that he also heads the campaign to delegitimize Israel "through peaceful means," as Kouchner phrased his words of praise.
In contrast Jean Moua, one of France's few pro-Jewish writers, denounced the campaign to boycott Israel and an anonymous antisemitic article that appeared in boycott journal Utopia, as antisemitism in the guise of peace activism, and was convicted and fined 500 Euros by a French court.
|
