Terrorism and the Political Landscape in France...and in America

Harvard law professor and author Alan Dershowitz has called President Barack Obama’s absence at an anti-terror unity rally in Paris on Sunday attended by some 50 heads of state a "blunder," adding : "I just don't understand. This is a smart group of people, you would think at the very least they would send the vice president. But they didn't do that and there's been a lot of reaction, mostly in the United States, but a lot of criticism." ~~~~~ I must say that in Europe, the absence of a US leader was noticed and criticized, but Europeans are so caught up in a strange mix of fear, determination and euphoria that Barack Obama's absence was not a major issue. The greatest critics by far were in America. But, Dershowitz, a firm defender of Israel, hit upon another chord that is far more important for the future when he noted that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas marched together. Dershowitz was cautious about the significance of their participation, saying : "Anything that can bring the Palestinians and the Israelis together is a good thing." Yes. But the key message delivered by Dershowitz was : "The moral equation is horrible. The Palestinians are where they are because of terrorism. They essentially invented terrorism as a foreign policy and Abbas was part of that with [former PLO leader Yasser] Arafat. I would hope that this tragic event -- and I feel sorry obviously for the victims whether they were Christians, Moslems or Jews -- but I hope this brings people together, finally, and makes them realize you can't tolerate some terrorism and expect to fight other terrorism. It's a unified concept." Reports that Hollande tried to dissuade Netanyahu from attending the unity rally in Paris is clear evidence of France’s self-centered foreign policy, according to Dershowitz, who said France didn’t want to "shift the focus away from France to terrorism in general around the Middle East. The French are wonderful at protecting themselves and their own people, but they're not so good at sharing the burden when it comes to stopping terrorism in other parts of the world," he said. Dershowitz went to the heart if the problem : "'France’s extraordinarily hypocritical and extraordinarily selfish' decision to play footsie with terrorists, rather than combating them head-on, resulted in last week’s deadly attacks in Paris. France has one of the worst records of fighting terrorism, particularly when it's terrorism that doesn't affect its own people. For years and years, France played footsie with Middle East terrorists, as long as they didn't come to France. Their idea was to export terrorism and of course the end result is they imported it. You either have to fight all terrorism or you're not going to be successful in fighting any terrorism." Dershowitz said he hopes the French terror attacks finally "makes (the French) realize you can't tolerate some terrorism and expect to fight other terrorism. It's a unified concept." Dershowitz also said that President Barack Obama needs to put a name to the threat facing the West in the wake of last week's wave of Islamist-inspired violence in Paris. "The time has come also for President Obama to acknowledge that this is a problem of Islamic extremism," according to Dershowitz : "It's not just a problem of terrorism. Even his attorney general [Eric Holder] said, 'No, we're against all terrorism.' The worst terrorism in the world today is Islamic extremism." ~~~~~ Dear readers, the Dershowitz attack may seem unjust as the world watches the French scramble to find the right words to express their shock and anger at the Charlie Hebdo and Vincennes kosher market attacks -- Prime Minister Valls was the most direct, telling the National Assembly that France is at war with jihadism and extreme Islam -- but we should never underestimate the skill of the French political "class," as they are labeled by the French, at wrapping up every crisis in La Marseillaise and their sense that all French are in their corner, while they troop out the gendarmes and other military to bury the dead, clean up the domestic mess, or as they hope, set out for North Africa to save Mali or some other former French colony from terrorists. This is not to say that the French people do not believe wholeheartedly in "Liberté, Équalité, Fraternité." They do. It is French politicians they do not believe in. As we would expect, President Hollande got a 79% approval rating for his handling of the terrorist attacks. But, the day before Charlie Hebdo, Hollande's approval rating was at 17%. And unless Hollande steers his Socialist Party away from its extreme left perch and leans toward the center in the wake of the last week's events, the Socialists will lose the 2017 presidential election just as they have now lost almost every regional and local election since Hollande was elected in 2012. The truth is that the French Socialists, like the American Democrats, have become so consumed with making minority welcome at the expense of the French majority that the French prople are moving to the right politically, their traditional home in reality, because only the French political right, led by former President Sarkozy, remembers that there is still a majority in France who have been there for a thousand years. The American Republican Party should take heed -- the center-right is where Americans want to be if there is a trustworthy and proven leader to take on the job.