Saturday 26 November 2016

Anti-semitism in French North Africa

Daniel Lee, in the broadcast to which this blog post refers, forestalled any assumptions which we might have had about antisemitism in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria before and during the second world war. It seems that the Muslim citizens of the French possessions and colonies were generally well-disposed towards the Jews among them. Antisemitism was handed down by their colonial masters, even before Vichy attempted to impose its own "final solution". To his credit, the king of Morocco resisted signing Vichy decrees so far as he was able.

Tunisian and Moroccan descendants in France learned well, reinforced by Salafi-funded organisations there. The result is the violence visited upon Charlie Hebdo and Bataclan. There will almost certainly be implications for next spring's French presidential election.

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