The World Was in Paris...Where Was Obama?

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, the elder statesman in the Hollande Socialist government, sounded the clarion Sunday morning : "The terrorists want two things : they want to scare us and they want to divide us. We must not let that happen. We must do the opposite. We must stand up and we must stay united." Fabius need not have worried. On Sunday, 1.5 to 2 million French people marched in Paris and another 2 to 2.5 million marched in other cities all over France. It was the largest public demonstration in French history. The Paris police reported that there were no 'incidents.' In Paris, 2 million flooded the center city boulevards -- 300,000 marched in Lyon -- 140,000 in Bordeaux -- 60,000 in Marseille -- 45,000 in Toulon, the heart of the Front National, often accused of bring anti-Moslem -- 40,000 in Strasburg and Dijon. There were also 25,000 marchers in Montreal -- 20,000 in Brussels -- 18,000 in Berlin -- 2,000 in London and in Stockholm. The Marseillaise was sung by ralliers from Washington to Brazil to Lebanon to London. "La marche républicaine" led by French President François Hollande, brought 50 heads of government to Paris for the march, as well as foreign ministers and diplomatic envoys. Many came from Arab nations, including Jordan, Egypt, Algeria and the Palestine Authority. ~~~~~ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu figured large in the march, because of the particularly anti-Semitic nature of the attack and hostage-taking in the Vincennes kosher market that left 4 Jews dead. French President Hollande and the Minister of the Interior, Bernard Cazeneuve, went with Prime Minister Netanyahu to the grand synagogue of Paris for a service after the march. In Jerusalem, concurrently, Israelis rallied, holding up signs saying "Je suis Charlie" in French and in Hebrew. Hollande's synagogue visit was part of the French government's effort to reassure French Jews - Europe's largest Jewish population - that it is safe to stay in France. About 7,000 of France's 2 million Jews emigrated to Israel last year. The killing of the 4 French Jews in the kosher market has deepened fears among European Jewish communities shaken by rising anti-Semitism and a feeling of vulnerability because of poor security and a large number of potential 'soft' targets. After the attacks of a Belgian Jewish museum and a Jewish school in southwestern France, Israeli leaders have called on European Jews to immigrate to Israel. But European Jews are deeply ambivalent about leaving, and their community leaders, along with top politicians, have urged them to stay in their homelands. "We are Europe's oldest minority and we have our experience of surviving under all possible circumstances," Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress, told the Associated Press. "We will not give up our motherland, which is called Europe. We will not stop the history of European Jewry, that is for sure." Kantor called for increased security at Jewish sites, concerted action against anti-Semitism across Europe and better coordination of intelligence forces against religious extremism. But he acknowledged that if any Jewish European does not feel safe, "I say you should leave in this case." Many French Jews are already leaving for Israel as anti-Semitism spikes across France. The 7,000 French Jews who left France for Israel in 2014 was double the previous year, making France, for the first time, the No. 1 source of immigration to Israel, according to the Jewish Agency, a nonprofit group that helps Jews move to Israel. When Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke at the Paris grand synagogue service, he thanked President Hollande for France's firm stance against terrorism. Netanyahu also thanked the Moslem employee of the Vincennes market who saved Jewish shoppers in danger of being killed by hiding them in the market walk-in cooler. But, Netanyahu said the attacks on French Jews aren't isolated incidents but part of a "network of hatred" by radical groups." At the synagogue, 17 candles were lit, one for each victim in the jihadist attacks. One of the candles was lit by a survivor of the Vincennes market attack. Another was lit by two mothers whose sons were killed by a radical Islamic gunman who attacked a Jewish school and paratroopers in southern France in 2012. ~~~~~ France remains on high alert while investigators determine whether the attackers were part of a larger extremist network. More than 5,500 police and soldiers were deployed on Sunday across France, half of them to protect the march. The others were guarding synagogues, mosques, schools and other sites around France. "I hope that we will again be able to say we are happy to be Jews in France," said Haim Korsia, the chief rabbi in France. Today, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian ordered 10,000 troops into the streets to protect sensitive sites, while the hunt for accomplices continues. Prime Minister Manuel Valls said the search is urgent because "the threat is still present." French Interior Minister Cazeneuve said today that 4,700 security forces are being deployed to protect France's 717 Jewish schools for an indefinite period. ~~~~~ The search is also on for Hayat Boumedienne, described as the common-law wife of Amedy Coulibaly, the Vincennes market terrorist. Turkey's foreign minister told Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency today that Boumedienne arrived in Turkey from Madrid on January 2, ahead of the attacks, and stayed at a hotel in Istanbul with a 23-year-old man before crossing into Syria on Thursday, the day after the Charlie Hebdo massacre, and the same day her 'husband' shot and killed a policewoman on the outskirts of Paris. Boumeddienne toured Istanbul with the man and then went to Akcakale, a Turkish town on the Syria border, where her last phone signal was heard on January 8 before she apparently crossed over into the ISIS-held area of Syria. The January 9 return tickets of the two to Madrid from Istanbul were not used. Boumedienne is not the only terrorist bring pursued. On Sunday, a video was briefly online showing Coulibaly explaining how the attacks would unfold. Police want to find the person who shot and posted the video which was edited and posted online after the attacks were over and Coulibaly dead. As Prime Minister Valls said today : "The work continues because we consider that there are most probably some possible accomplices." Other details are emerging. The connections between the three attackers dates to 2005, when Coulibaly and Cherif Kouachi were jailed together. Cherif's older brother, Said, apparently fought with or was trained by al-Qaida in Yemen. Cherif, was convicted in 2008 along with several others in a network that sent jihadis to fight American forces in Iraq and he was for a time the roommate of the "underwear bomber." ~~~~~ Dear readers, while there is heightened European unity behind the determined French effort to stop jihadist-terrorist cells from menacing France and Europe, there is a wide spectrum of opinion in Europe about terrorism and Islamic radicalism. A jihadist fire was started in a Hamburg, Germany, paper that republished the Charlie Hebdo cartoons. Two men were arrested. There was no major damage. Some 50 anti-Moslem incidents have occurred in France since the Charlie Hebdo massacre. In Dresden, Germany, a Sunday rally brought out 20,000 anti-Islam protesters, while 35,000 Dresdeners rallied against the "xenophobic racist" nature of the anti-Islam rally. The far-right French political party Front National rallied separately on Sunday, after being made persona non grata at the Paris march. Morocco did not send a representative to Paris because there were "images of the Prophet Mohammed" along the route. Still, something happened in Paris that far exceeded France's grief and anger. So far, it is symbolic, but Europe is awake and determined today, as is much of the world, to stop radical islamic jihadist terrorism. The danger to European Jews is finally being addressed. There is an undercurrent that radical Islam is the common enemy and that moderate Moslems and Islam will now have to put up or shut up as the world deals with the jihadist terrorists. Can it last and produce results. That is for the coming days to show. Sunday, the world was French and Judeo-Christian. ~~~ But, there was one large hole in the worldwide display of abhorrence at the jihadist terrorist threat. The only US representative at the Paris march was the US Ambassador to France. The White House has said. : "We should have sent someone with a higher profile." Secretary of State Kerry was at an India conference. Attorney General Holder left Paris after a Saturday meeting. Where was America?? Americans are solidly with France. But once more, in a major crisis, President Obama has failed to represent the United States. If Benjamin Netanyahu felt that the occasion outweighed his own security concerns, why not a high level American. There is no excuse, Mr. Obama.