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Nations United Against Israel

French official: Israel?s establishment a mistake


By Ryan Jones
June 20, 2004

European parliamentarian and former French Prime Minister Michel Rocard said last week that the 1917 Balfour Declaration leading to the establishment of a sovereign Jewish state had been an “historic mistake.”

During a lecture in Alexandria, Egypt on June 16, Rocard referred to Israel as a state based on racism that “continues to pose a threat to its neighbors until today.”

EUobserver.com reported on Thursday that Rocard is a front-running candidate for the presidency of the European Parliament.

Rocard’s jab at Israel echoed traditional French enmity towards the Jewish state, which also resulted this week in newly appointed Foreign Minister Michael Barnier meeting with mass Jew killer Yasser Arafat, while spurning a state visit to Jerusalem.

‘Historic mistake’

Speaking to an audience at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina last month, Rocard described Israel as a "unique and abnormal…entity that continues to pose a threat to its neighbors until today,” the “Palestinian” International Press Center reported.

He said the 1917 Balfour Declaration, which led to Israel’s eventual rebirth in 1948, was an “historic mistake.”

Rocard referred to Israel as a state based on racism that depended on armed conflict to set its borders. He ignored the fact that every major war Israel had been involved in had been initiated by the surrounding Arab nations.

Recent reports indicate Rocard, a current EU parliamentarian, is a front-running candidate for the presidency of the European Parliament.

‘Give me Arafat, forget Israel’

At the weekend, newly appointed French Foreign Minister Michael Barnier decided that during this week’s visit to the region he would stop in on PLO chief Yasser Arafat, knowingly making himself unwelcome in Jerusalem.

Israel has stated it would not meet with any diplomat that chooses to hold talks with the unrepentant terror chief.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said it was disappointed by the decision, and noted Europe’s continued affinity with Arafat was “unwise.”

‘That shitty little country’

Modern French hostility towards the Jewish state was unmasked in December 2001, when former-French ambassador to England, Daniel Bernard, referred to Israel as “that shitty little country.”

Bernard told a fellow party guest in London that he could not understand “why should we be in danger of world war three because of these people [the Israeli Jews]?”

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