RASHI, RAMBAM and RAMALAMADINGDONG
A Quizbook of Jewish Trivia Facts & Fun
A Quizbook of Jewish Trivia Facts & Fun
French President Emmanuel Macron won reelection in a closely contested contest against Marine Le Pen. Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Rally Party, has been a controversial figure in French politics for many years, following in the footsteps of her father Jean-Marie Le Pen. She has alarmed many French Jews for a number of her views. She supports the banning of ritual meat slaughter (though she says kosher meat could be imported). And she has argued that France was not responsible for the round up and deportation of thousands of French Jews to Auschwitz. She claims that the French Vichy government did not represent France but rather was part of German authority, a position that French Jews, and Emmanuel Macron, reject. During the recent campaign, Le Pen was criticized for sending a “dog whistle” to supporters that led to criticism from the Jewish community, even including a Jewish group affiliated with her National Rally Party. What action did she take that provoked criticism?
Marine Le Pen, Leader of the French National Front by Global Panorama is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
A. Le Pen raised her arm to the sky in what looked like a Nazi salute at a rally in the French city of Troyes, one of her strongholds. Le Pen claimed that she was only pointing to the people sitting in the balcony, but many in the audience responded with the same arm gesture.
B. Le Pen spoke at a meeting of the National Rally Party. In her talk she espoused support for the state of Israel. But following her comments, she raised her hand with fingers outstretched and her thumb closed across her palm, after which she closed her fingers over the thumb. This represents the international symbol for danger, a discreet code that originally developed as a way for women to call for help subtly when in a dangerous situation. But the Jewish community felt that this was a "dog whistle" to anti-Semites, telling them she was “too afraid” to publicly state her real views on Israel. Le Pen claimed she was simply waving goodbye to the meeting attendees.
C. Le Pen issued campaign posters in which she is shown to be offering the “OK sign” with her left thumb and finger. The gesture, which she claimed was innocuous, is in fact considered to be a white supremacist signal by the Anti-Defamation League among others, as the fingers are seen to be presenting as a “W” and a “P,” standing for White Power.
D. At a rally in Marseille, Le Pen raised her arm with her first finger and pinkie raised upward in what is known as the Hook’em Horns symbol. This was seen by some in the Jewish community as a reference to the anti-Semitic trope that Jews have horns, meant to incite anti-Semitic feelings among her right-wing supporters.
E. Le Pen addressed a Star Trek convention in Lyon, where she raised her hand with spread fingers in a Spock-like Vulcan salute. But many observers claimed that she was sending a “dog whistle” championing the Kohanim, the Jewish Priestly community. Many Jews fear that this signal indicated her support for reinstituting the duchaning ceremony, where the Leviim must wash the hands and feet of the Kohanim.
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