An "Update From Paris: This Jew is Still Here, and She is Not Leaving"
Being the annoying person that I am, I bothered Claire Berlinski on Twitter to put the contents of her tweets into a piece longer than 140 character -- and she did.
About the claim by Stephen Pollard, editor of the Jewish Chronicle, that "EVERY JEW I KNOW HAS LEFT PARIS," Berlinski writes -- from Paris -- on Ricochet:
I have not left. And I will not. And neither will my father. That is at least two of us. And I know many more.It is true that in the end, the Nazis managed to drive my family out of France. But not before my grandfather killed thousands of them. If these eighth-rate savages think they'll succeed in getting my family out of France twice, they will discover that I am my grandfather's granddaughter.
I've been told today that "the odds are against me." By well-meaning people, I'm sure. First, they are not. That's absurd. What happened was a horror, and it is by no means over, but if these people think they can win against a determined modern nation-state-once it's woken up-they are even more out of their minds than it seems. Yes, it's a war-and that was only the opening shot. But they are not the Nazis. They're just dumb thugs with a taste for blood-and while France may be quite a sane place overall, God help them if they push the Germans so far that they find out what real Nazis are like.
And if you want to talk about odds, I'll tell you about odds: In my grandfather's regiment of 1,250 men, only 250 survived. So don't tell me about the odds: It just makes you sound like a hysteric with no sense of history or proportion.
And while we're at it: Let's remember who won that war.
I am Jewish. I am in France. And I am not leaving-not because of a handful of terrorist swine, and not even if there's an army of them. This family of Jews will not be driven out of Europe twice. And as far as I'm concerned, the response a Jew should have to this outrage is the one we should have had before-when up against a far more fearsome enemy. We may die, but we'll die fighting, and you'll be amazed how many of you we take down with us.
So let me speak personally now to anyone who thinks he'll get me out of here: We will always have Paris. I will always have Paris. As will all the people who belong here. You, however, will die.
I love seeing this -- this trend of people emerging from the ranks of the too afraid and/or the too comfortable to get off the couch, which describes the approach by many to our freedoms and their being jeopardized (by government, by TSA thugs, by cops, and by Muslims acting out the Quran's commands to slaughter the infidel and install The New Caliphate).
Many of my Jewish relatives in Germany in the 1930s were as heroic as Claire Berlinski. Fortunately, my grandfather wasn't, and left the country. The heroic relatives were all killed.
Plus ca change plus c'est la meme chose. France will never be a place for the Jews.
Snoopy at January 11, 2015 7:44 AM
A German newspaper that reprinted Charlie Hebdo cartoons was just firebombed:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/01/11/german-newspaper-that-reprinted-charlie-hebdo-cartoons-firebombed/
Snoopy at January 11, 2015 12:40 PM
I hope she is serious but words are cheap. How will she convert her rhetoric into reality? She will need weapons to accomplish the task and I understand it is very difficult to legally own a firearm in France. The ones a civilian can possess must have a legitimate sporting purpose or be collectors items. Maybe she will go for the illegal market and more power to her if she does.
parabarbarian at January 11, 2015 3:43 PM
That's brave and all. But where should we send the flowers for the funeral?
Let's face it: France hasn't been particularly friendly to Jews. The French bristled under Nazi occupation, but one activity they relished was rounding up Jews to send to the Nazis.
I R A Darth Aggie at January 12, 2015 9:44 AM
"She will need weapons to accomplish the task and I understand it is very difficult to legally own a firearm in France."
As the government becomes increasingly ineffective, opportunities start to arise. It's like what von Braun said about the Nazis near the end of WWII, and how they aided the rocket team's escape from Germany: [quoting from memory] "We were getting conficting orders from different parts of the command structure every day; some told us to move, some told us to stay. We followed the orders that suited our purposes and ignored the rest. Whenever we were questioned, we always had legitimate orders that supported whatever we were doing."
Cousin Dave at January 12, 2015 1:05 PM
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