anti-Semitism Dr.Ami Cammarella France









TT: Tell us a bit more about the French police .



That was the mentality and the mind of many Jews (TT: even now) after the war, and was in particular the state of mind of my mother. It’s also the same opinion of the friend of our mutual friend as well.

TT: What about him?

Dr.Cammarella: He’s my friend also, and a Jew with Polish roots who had many relatives die in the Shoah, but they were all in Poland when they died. None of his family was killed because of France during WWII, so for his family and him there is no difficult relations with France. For him France is a good place to live in, it’s very clear in his mind.

TT: What about your own childhood, while you were growing up? At what age did you become aware of anti-Semitism, did you have experiences where you were singled out for being Jewish or anything remotely related to that?

Dr.Cammarella: I was the only child, I grew up in a secular family, I didn’t feel anything towards religion, I didn’t feel that I was a Jew nor Catholic (his father being Catholic). I grew up in a completely secular area, I never went to Synagogue or to church. Until recently, the only thing that distinguished me, I was born in Israel, and until recently I didn’t have any contact with any religion. But the only thing in particular is that my name is Ami, it is a Jewish and Israeli name.

TT: When did that begin to cause you problems, your name I mean, because it both Jewish and Israeli?

Dr.Cammarella: I was a resident at the time in an intensive care department in the north of France, in Dunkirk. It was in May 2002, and one of the chief physicians of the department, but not the main one, who was French, came to me and asked “what is your name, what are the roots of your name?”I answered that it was an israeli name, because I was born in Israel .

TT: How did that make you feel?

Dr.Cammarella: Well for me it wasn’t a problem, I didn’t think of a real connection with Israel and Judaism at this time . A few days later this chief responded to me, helped by all the propaganda in the news on Israel that you know that didn’t just start now but years ago…

TT: Yes, I’m very much aware of it.

Dr.Cammarella: And he told me “You Jews”, he was referring to Israel but he told me “You Jews, you are like the Nazis”. So you see, for him, Jews and Israelis are the same. You’re a Jew, so you are an Israeli, and all Jews are Nazis . Just today, I was listening to the radio, and there was a song of one of the more well known singers in France. In this song, about twenty years ago, it’s not a recent song, he was singing in particular about the Palestinians, living a genocide organised by the Israelis …

TT: Committing a genocide against the Palestinians..

Dr.Cammarella: Yes, a he (the physician in Dunkirk) treated me like that. I was very shocked. At this time I didn’t feel that I was a Jew, at this time I didn’t know anything about the story of my family, I just knew about my grandmother, because she was a Jew. At the time I didn’t know of all the other people who died in my family, I discovered it afterwards. I then thought of how was I to answer. Did I have to answer as a Jew?… But I didn’t know anything about Judaism, I didn’t go to the Synagogue, I was not even interested at this time, it was completely lost to me. But I thought of my grandmother and I wanted to defend her and to…eh…

TT: Honor her memory?

Dr.Cammarella: Yes, to honor her memory, I didn’t answer directly to this man, so I wrote a letter to the director of the hospital, and I told him what had happened and told that it was anti-Semitic, they were anti-Semitic words. So they took it very seriously and told me that I could file charges because there are laws in France to protect against anti-Semitism and for that to work. But I said no, I don’t want to go to trial, I just want him to shut up and not to talk to me no more. And that’s what he did. You have to know that Dunkirk is a twin city with Gaza.

TT: Ah… Gaza city..

Dr.Cammarella: Yes, yes, with Gaza city. It’s also true that the city of Lille (still in the North of France) is twined with Nablus. Palestinians have strong relationships with these 2 towns . Before I didn’t know all that much about politics.

That is why after I began going to Synagogue, not because I had some kind of revelation or became real religious but, I said to myself, ok, you are a Jew, go and see what they say about Judaism . So then I went to inform myself what is about Judaism and that’s how I came to know the friend of our mutual friend, and about Judaism and to be a part of the Jewish community in the north of France.

But that wasn’t the first anti-Semitic reaction that I had, it was the only one that I had from someone not an Arab, he was an ethnic French with an old fashioned French name. After WW II it was difficult to express anti-Semitism because of all the horrible things that had happened. If you were to say anti-Semitic things you would be attacked by the law. But I think that anti-Semitism is not dead, not all the people are anti-Semitic of course, but it does exist.

TT: Do you know of other friends of yours that are Jews have left France, are there of any significant numbers who have left for example, Israel or for elsewhere in the last 3-4 years, or you have no knowledge of anything like that?

Dr.Cammarella: Yes I know of some people who have left for Israel due to anti-Semitism, yes. Just recently, because only recently I became a part of a big Jewish community, before I didn’t know of anyone. So little by little my identity became a Jewish identity and little by little things changed for me, and I want to tell you of the other incidents of anti-Semitism I experienced which came this time from Arabs.

TT: Did these incidents take place in your private or professional life or both?

Dr.Cammarella: both professional and private life ; the first incident took place in (Dunkirk) by that high level physician, the next time was in the beginning of 2004 which took place in the intensive care ward, this time in Lille (the 4th town of France) . I was a resident like before and my colleague who was an Arab physician from Algeria who was doing his residency in cardiology and had a course in the general area of the intensive care department, and we worked together, very closely in a professional way.

He seemed to be very nice and we had discussions and told me that he came from Algeria, and being from Finland I know that you are more than likely not aware of a French Jewish singer know in France called, Enrico Macias. He’s pretty well known here in France but he was born in Algeria and he had to leave in 1961 due to the war in Algeria, and in particular, the father of his wife was killed by the Islamic extremists the same year.
This singer, who can be found on Wikipedia, came from the same hometown as this physician. My colleague even told me that his grandfther was a neighbour and a friend of the singer’s father . So we began discussing about it and I proposed that we have a drink together somewhere outside our department, we can see each other downtown, and do you know what he told me? It was difficult for him to answer, but what he told me was, “you know Ami, I would like to but I cannot”. He made me to understand that he couldn’t see me because I was a Jew.

TT: Was this doctor very religious or what?

Dr.Cammarella: He was not a religious man, he was secular in thinking concerning Islam, no problem with a Christmas tree and such like. But he couldn’t be seen with Jews, and that was anti-Semitic. You probably know that in Algeria they hate Jews,and they hate Israel. I recently read that they are probably only ten Jews left in all of Algeria. At the end of the WWII , there were more than 165 000. This french jewish singer I spoke about, Enrico Macias, tried to go to Algeria many times, and every time the Algerian government told him that no, he cannot enter their country.

TT: When did the next anti-Semitic incident take place?

Dr.Cammarella: That was something very strong that changed my life. It’s about my best friend for many years in north of France, Ali .He and I both arrived in Lille in 1998 (pictured right) and since that moment we began to be very close friends. He knew that I was born in Tel Aviv in Israel and that I was a Jew but at that moment I didn’t care.

He came from Beirut Lebanon at the age of nineteen to do all of his medical studies. And because France have particular links to Lebanon (like with North Africa) , he found with no problem a place in the first year of a french medicine’s university to stay ..

He was awaiting his specification in psychiatry in Lille as I did, when I was studying in Lille I took three years in psychiatry. And now he became a psychiatrist and works in Lille. We were very good friends for years and there were no problems. Once he told me, “you know Ami, in 1982 Israel invaded Lebanon and we were bombed where I lived and so on, but I don’t have any hate against Israel, I understand what they did because of the Palestinians and we had a civil war because of them, so I completely understand what the Israelis did, and I don’t have any hate against Israel “. There was no hate between us.

TT: Now when did things start to change and what happened next?

Dr.Cammarella: Things started to change in 2005. Ali was not married and had no girl friend for the years that I knew him. It was even a bit strange for me that I never found him having a girl friend. In 2005 after he finished his exams and became a specialized doctor, then he went to Lebanon where I think his family introduced him to a girl, and they were very quickly married . He came back with her to France. She didn’t know a word of French, she was ten years younger than him . She was always at home, she didn’t work, and for him it was not a problem. I was very shocked to see that, and he said, that’s ok, it’s in my culture. I thought he lived a western life, but in reality, no, he was completely Middle Eastern.

That shocked me. Even this physician of a very high level, very clever and with sensitivity. But he was very happy to be Middle Eastern and having such a young wife who was very quiet and didn’t say anything and stayed at home.Yes, I was very shocked. But the biggest shock happened the year later . Ali and his wife were in Lebanon in July and August in 2006 during the second war with Lebanon, and I sent to him an SMS at the end of August telling him that I was sorry of what happened to Lebanon because of the war and I thought that he would understand that what the army was doing was like in the war before. But he never answered my SMS.

TT: Did you ever here from him at all, what happened next?

Dr.Cammarella: Well, a mutual friend of ours called me in December of 2006 , and he told me “well Ami, he doesn’t want to have any contact with you, he doesn’t want to see you anymore.” I understood it was because I am Israeli and so in his mind I had links to the Israeli army and somehow I was responsible… and so he wanted to break up our friendship. At this moment I began to understand that it was not possible for me not to have links with Israel .

There is another possibility though, to be totally blind even when you see so many things, such reactions. It’s a big wish, a big desire to not believe that. I know many people, friends who think like that, they’ve decided that France was a good country .

But I decided to be committed .

TT: But Ami, do you feel that Ali’s decision to go back to Lebanon had anything to do with his change in attitude, that it influenced his becoming more fundamentalist in his outlook on life and on his friendship with you?

Dr.Cammarella: I think he changed due to his wife, I don’t think that he became radicalized, he doesn’t belong to Hezbollah…

TT: No I didn’t mean that, just his becoming more traditional in his approach to life.

Dr.Cammarella: Yes I think so, in particular with his wife. His wife didn’t grow up in France like he did for about 17 years, she just arrived in France with all her Middle Eastern traditions and values .

TT: Well this is just conjecture on my part, but do you think then that he would have broken off relations with you nonetheless, even if the 2nd Lebanon war never happened?

Dr.Cammarella: I think that it was just a question of time, during those years in school he was allowed to have a friendship with me, and in retrospect it was a time for me to grow up and realize what happens, because I come from a family that didn’t prepare me for that. It was a family full of love and humanity, a humanist family you know, ok, we all have to be friends we have to live together in friendship. No, that’s not life, and so I had to be more mature and understand what is our real world position and where I have to be and so on. So to answer you question, it only had to be a question of time.

TT: And what other thoughts might you have concerning France before we wrap this interview up?

Dr.Cammarella: Well the Gaza war is another wake up, what happened in Europe and what happened in France, the reaction was really strong. After that I was sure, absolutely sure that I had to leave France, because for me, France is the most anti-Semitic country in Europe . In particular during the Gaza war there were about 400 anti-Semitic attacks.

Three Synagogues were attacked with Molotov cocktails, about ten Jews were beaten (at least officially)*. I know of one guy, not personally, who was from Paris and he was beaten by ten Arabs in January of this year, in particular his nose was broken and he spent three days in the hospital…and that just because he was a Jew!

He was interviewed by YNET, an Israeli internet website, in which he stated that there is no longer a place for Jews in France and prepared for his immigrating to Israel. I don’t know if he has left already or not. All my friends, my Jewish friends didn’t want to believe what they saw, they said, “well that’s the way it is, Jews being beaten because they are Jews, that’s the history of the Jews through the centuries, no? It doesn’t happen every day, and it’s not Auschwitz so, you have to live with it.” It’s no problem if you hide your identity, to take off very quickly your kippa, immediately when you go out from the synagogue.

And why I wish to leave France, to answer your question , it has to do with the politics. In France they are very against Israel in the news, and for me, these very anti-Zionist positions are only anti-Semitic positions. Now since the birth of Israel, it’s a new way of being anti-Semitic and very politically correct. I you are anti-Israel then you are for the poor Palestinians who are said to be very oppressed by the very bad Israeli people. So that’s really what I feel with politics in Europe, and with France in particular. I can’t stand anymore all this almost daily propaganda.

My grandmother was killed because of French people who gave her away to the Nazis. And today I can’t stand to see Synagogues being attacked with Molotov cocktails and to listen to them say bad things about Israel and the Jews. 400 anti-Semitic attacks in France, like the one guy beaten up by ten Arabs just because he was a Jew, I can’t take that any more. It’s indefensible. That’s my position of why I’m leaving France.

TT: Dr.Cammarella, thank you for joining us here at the Tundra Tabloids, all the best to you.

Dr.Cammarella: Thank you KGS very much.

*Note: Click here for the Ilan Halimi incident.

12 Responses

  1. I was in Israel two years ago, and an estate-agent told us that the houseprices were rising fast because many jews from abroad wanted to buy a pied à terre in Israel, just in case. I would, if I were a jew. It's the same all over Europe I think. The things you hear civilized people say about 'Israel' and the 'jewish lobby' are incredible.
    And Ami is right: 'anti-zionism' is the socially acceptable way of venting the anti-semitism that had to be hidden up until the eighties, because of the holocaust. The same people who were badmouthing their elders for having been on the wrong side during the war are now blaming Israel for everything under the sun, and if you tell them they are disgusting anti-semites they jeer, because 'criticising Israel' is no anti-semitism.

    If someone had told me twenty years ago that this disgusting idiocy would rear it's ugly head again – in my own country! – I would never have believed it.
    It's absolutely incredible.
    Every year these memorial meetings are held remembering '40-'45 and the liberation, and every year they piously say: Never Again!, and now even politicians are lobbying for the poor palestinians and calling Israel a nazi country.

    I hope Israel will fight tooth and claw, and not heed others; nobody is to be trusted when it comes to Israel.

  2. "They talk about Zionists, but they mean Jews. Martin Luther King.

    Yes, the old anti-Semitism is back. With a vengeance. Sixty years after the Holocaust, and here we go again. Shame on us.

    Israel should stop listening to the rest of the world and do what it has to do to survive.

  3. Is Ami moving to Israel or is he moving someplace else?

  4. During WW2 FrAWNce was invaded by nazis and FrAWNce collaborated with the invaders.

    Today FrAWNce has been invaded by islamofascists and FrAWNce collaborates with the invaders.

    Funny how things don't change.

    Show compassion for the VICTIMS of Pan Am 103

  5. Paardestaart, I hear what you're saying. We who follow these trends know in fact that those who speak unimagineable nonsense about Israel, are really speaking about their deep seated anti-Semitism about Jews. Pure and simple. They are only fooling themselves.

    Antivenin, you hit the nail on the head. The King quote is solid.

    Carl, I'll get back to you via email.

    And to Anon, yes, somethings never change. It's up to us to ram that point home.

  6. France was the first foreign country I visited (other than Canada, which doesn't really count) and I loved Paris, coming back the next two times I travelled overseas. Now I don't want to spend any of my money in that anti-semitic country.

    I hope and expect Ami will be very happy in ארצ ישראל.

  7. Surely anti-Zionism is not just anti-Semitism. Surely it's a mix of things. Some percentage of anti-zionism is anti-Semitism. But another percentage of anti-Zionism is anti-Western leftism. Yet another percentage of anti-Zionism is an alliance of mere economic convenience with Arab oil powers. And even if one considers the anti-Semitic portion of anti-Zionism, one has to distinguish different kinds of anti-Semitism. There is the Nazi-like form, which literally wants to exterminate Jews. That is surely rare among non-Muslim French people. What is no doubt less rare is some sort of antipathy toward Jews.

    It's a mistake to cry anti-Semitism too much, and exaggerate the presence of the thing. It's a bit like my leftish aunt who tends sometimes to call any person the least bit to her right a fascist. It's an effort to win the argument by threatening people with a very extreme charge, of racism and fascism, some of the worst possible things one can be accused of in today's world.

    The anti-Semitic portion of anti-Zionism is primarily a Muslim anti-Semitism. Muslim anti-semitism is both much more intense and much more widespread than non-Muslim French anti-Semitism. And unlike Nazism, Muslim anti-Semitism does not base itself on racial ideas, but on religious ones. So again, in speaking of anti-Semitism, one is warping the truth a bit if one is trying to suggest something indistinguishable from the Nazi outlook. Islamic anti-Semitism is part of the Islamic totalitarian theocratic paradigm.

    In any event, just as support for communism and belief in it more or less evaporated with the collapse of the Soviet Union — so that one discovered that all the "learned" Western support for and apology for Communism prior to its collapse was essentially pumped up and manipulated into existence by all the resources of the Soviet Union — similarly, if the Muslim world were to collapse (unfortunately, it probably won't) in the same way as the Soviet Union, one would discover that most of Europe's righteous indignation and "principled" opposition to Israel is pumped up and manipulated into existence by a totalitarian force in the background, in this case international Islam. It's in part the useful idiot phenomenon Lenin referred to. Totalitarian societies can have huge and fairly camouflaged effects on the public discourse of liberal democratic societies. The useful idiot "political analyst" in the liberal democratic society becomes an easy channel for the exercise of totalitarian influence on public opinion. The useful idiot "intellectual" believes in and spreads the totalitarian propaganda, and then other useful idiots, hearing the "authoritative" analyst, in turn accept and believe the totalitarian propaganda. But when the totalitarian system dies, suddenly all the pseudo-intellectual whitewashing of totalitarianism, all the channeling of propaganda, disappears, goes up in smoke. Suddenly, no one defends the totalitarian system any more, or tries to argue that it is morally equivalent to the liberal democratic society.

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