This is the Forward’s coverage of the nation of France.
France
The Latest
-
Opinion France: The Dumbest Right-Wing in the World
Charles de Gaulle famously observed that France had “la droite la plus bête au monde” [“the dumbest right-wing in the world”]. Events over the last couple of days reveal that the French Right continues to work hard for bragging rights to that dubious moniker. At the start of the week Christian Vanneste, a deputy of…
-
Opinion Holiday Proposal Sparks French Outrage
The political tempest spawned in France by Standard & Poor’s downgrade of the country’s credit rating has transfixed outside observers. They have thus paid little attention to a different storm now roiling the waters of French society: the question of whether or not French Jews can take the day off on Yom Kippur. In early…
-
Culture Muslims Who Helped Save French Jews
Benjamin Stora, an Algerian-born writer and political activist who turned 61 in December, has for years combined history and self-history as a North African Jew. Most recently he has become embroiled in a controversy about the role that Muslims may have played in saving French Jews during the Holocaust. As adviser for the acclaimed French…
-
Opinion When History Is Closed for Debate
The spirit of the holiday season has just swept across the French National Assembly. On December 22, the nation’s representatives — or, more accurately, the handful in attendance — passed a bill that would criminalize the denial of the Turkish massacre of the Armenians in 1915. It was as much a gift to the government…
-
The Schmooze Ovadia Yosef Frees Man Who Tried to Kill Him
What would be your attitude toward someone who had plotted to kill you? I can’t help thinking that I’d be more than a little broiges. You would imagine that the stakes are upped a little when the target of the murder plot is the former Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel Ovadia Yosef, spiritual leader of…
-
Life In the DSK Case, a Silver Lining?
The sexual assault case against the former I.M.F. chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn seems to have all but unraveled. The credibility of the hotel chambermaid who accused DSK of forcing her to perform oral sex and attempting to rape her has been called into question by the defense team, which says that the accuser has been inconsistent…
-
The Schmooze The Drugs Made Me Say It: John Galliano’s Hate Speech Defense
It was the alcohol and drugs talking, not John Galliano. That’s the defense being used, predictably, by the English fashion designer, who went on trial in Paris today for anti-Semitic rants made at a restaurant in the French capital in October and February. The comments qualify as criminal hate speech in France, where Galliano faces…
-
The Schmooze Renault Grandchildren Sue French Government for Seizing Company After WWII
Sure, French automaker Renault made about 30,000 trucks for the Nazis, and even repaired German tanks during World War II. But does that make founder Louis Renault a collaborator? His granddaughter doesn’t think so. So along with seven other Renault grandchildren, Helene Renault-Dingli is suing the French government over what she calls “the illegal confiscation…
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Why some Satmar Hasidic leaders endorsed Zohran Mamdani as mayor, stunning many Jewish voters
- 2
News How Mamdani became New York’s next mayor, with Jews divided between fierce opposition and fiery support
- 3
Opinion I’m an Israeli who lives in New York. Here’s why I’m voting for Mamdani
- 4
Culture Mamdani quoted Eugene Debs in his victory speech — there’s a long Jewish history there
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture Mamdani’s first statement on antisemitism as mayor-elect got some weird pushback
-
Film & TV On the trail of a priceless dove, a group of Palestinians and Israelis find that peace is for the birds
-
Culture Could poetry revive Yitzhak Rabin’s legacy among young American Jews?
-
Culture Did crypto-Jews invent the modern tarot deck?
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism