Arabs Against Discrimination[French comedian denies making anti-Semitic statements]

French comedian denies making anti-Semitic statements

Source: www.haaretz.co.il , February 24, 2005

By: Site editors

French comedian Dieudonné held a press conference on Saturday (February 21) in a theater in Paris ' tenth arrondissement. Many fans and anti-Zionists were in attendance, including Ginette Skandrani, a friend of Tunisian Holocaust denier Mondher Sfar. On the same day, the Algerian L'Expression published statements by the comedian saying, “Zionists are exempt from punishment. If someone calls a child in front of a Jewish school ‘dirty Jew,' it's enough to create a global uproar. Zionism is the AIDS of Judaism.”

His statements published in Algeria shocked the French press, leading French Minister of Justice Dominique Perben to launch an investigation into Dieudonné on charges of denying crimes against humanity. Dieudonné denied that he made the statements.

Three days earlier in Algeria , Dieudonné insulted a representative from CRIF (Conseil Representatif des Institutions Juives de France), a Jewish umbrella organization, describing the organization as “a group of criminals” and “a mafia,” but he did not deny the genocide of Jews in World War II. Clutching a copy of Death and the Nation: History, Memory, Politics , by historian Idith Rosenthal [sic], published in France in 2004, Dieudonné said, “I condemned the media's treatment of the Holocaust.”*

Dieudonné, whose statements have created a wave of protest, added, “I was not convicted. The press puts itself above the law.” French government spokesman Jean-François Copé said that Dieudonné “has renounced comedy to make insults.” François Hollande, secretary-general of the Socialist Party, and Harlem Désir, member of the European parliament, called for a boycott of Dieudonné's shows. “He's one of the biggest anti-Semites in France ,” Désir said.

* Idith Zertal is the author of the book, soon to be released in English—ed.