More in ‘France’

• Last decade, thousands of Palestinians were stripped of Jordanian citizenship. Jordan’s government wants to maximize the Palestinians’ numbers to improve their bargaining position vis-à-vis Israel. [NYT]
• U.S. officials continued to criticize Israeli building in East Jerusalem. Prime Minister Netanyahu apologized again for the construction announcement’s timing while maintaining support for the settlements. My 10 ...

• The Israeli Air Force revealed new pilotless drones (the size of Boeing 737s) that have a long enough range to be operational against, say, Iran. [NYT]
• The French and Spanish foreign ministers are the most prominent supporters of an initiative that would see the European Union recognize a Palestinian state within 18 months. Israel ...

After Israel and the United States, France has the third-most Jews of any country. Now, The Economist reports, French Jew Dominique Strauss-Kahn is his country’s most popular politician, and could become the first Jewish president of France (which of course excludes, say, 1930s Prime Minister Léon Blum). Strauss-Kahn (you can call him DSK) tried but failed ...

Today in Tablet Magazine, following yesterday’s podcast about Paris’s remarkably diverse 19th arrondisement, Léa Khayata reports from that neighborhood, describing the human stories while tracing the roots of the recent upsurge in anti-Semitic incidents in France. The Scroll will have an easier time getting to work today.

A father and his three sons enter the metro on a winter Monday morning in Paris. Wearing backpacks, raincoats, and caps over their blond hair, the kids, from 3 to 6 years old, are set for school. The man finds a seat for the two youngest children, but the eldest has to stay standing, quietly ...

Today in Tablet Magazine, the Vox Tablet podcast features a dispatch from Paris’s 19th arrondisement, where Sephardic and Muslim populations live relatively amicably even as anti-Semitic attacks are on the rise elsewhere in France. This week’s Emails of Zion—in which we publish That Email That’s Been Making The Rounds, in case you haven’t gotten it ...

The 19th arrondissement of Paris, on the city’s northern edge, is home to large populations of Sephardic Jews, Muslim immigrants from Africa, and a growing Lubavitch community. It has been known as a hub of anti-Semitic violence, but, surprisingly, it’s been calmer lately, even as anti-Semitic attacks have spiked in France, and throughout Western Europe, ...

• In his first State of the Union address, President Barack Obama vowed that Iran’s leaders “will face growing consequences” for flouting international nuclear agreements; on this issue, he said, “the international community is more united.” He did not mention Israel in the speech. [JPost]
• Meanwhile, at the United Nations the administration will propose a ...

Bernard-Henri Lévy, self-styled bearer of the torch of Enlightenment and engagée intellectualism, was making the rounds in New York City this week. Last night, he got center stage at a panel discussion at Columbia cosponsored by the International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism (LICRA), which is essentially the French Anti-Defamation League. Topic: “Freedom of Expression: ...

• Led by Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minnesota), the first Muslim congressman, 54 U.S. representatives signed a letter urging Israel to ease its Gaza blockade. J Street, Americans for Peace Now, and other liberal groups also signed. [Haaretz]
• Standing beside Israeli President Shimon Peres, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced it was time to stop being polite ...