Heroism is in the Eye of the Beholder!

     In late February of 2013, Stéphane Hessel passed away at the ripe age of 95, and unless you have some knowledge of French history, particularly during the Second World War and the Résistance, his name will not ring a bell.
     Stéphane Hessel was born in Germany in 1917 of a gentile mother and Jewish father. He became a French citizen in 1939 at which point, refusing to flex to the antisemitic demands of the Vichy government, he fled to London to serve under Général DeGaulle and eventually joined the Résistance Française in 1944. Hessel was captured by the Gestapo and sent to the camps of Dora and Buchenwald were he was tortured. He escaped while being transferred to the Bergen-Belsen camp.
     The next sixty years would see Hessel become a diplomat, a human rights activist, an ambassador and towards the end of his life, in late 2010, the author of the controversial pamphlet Indignez-vous! (Time for Outrage!). This very short pamphlet on peace and social justice turned out to be an all-out propaganda piece for the Palestinian cause and against the “Israeli war machine”. Hessel calls Hamas terrorists acts, simple acts of “exasperation” and claims that terrorism is a “misnomer” when applied to Hamas (p. 9).
     Using his past notoriety as a member of the Resistance, Hessel even chose to compare Hamas to the very same French Resistance and Israel to the Nazi regime, according to French author Guy Millière. While I don’t doubt that Mr. Hessel acted with bravery during WWII, I find this rather embarrassing and self-deprecating for a man who is half Jewish. There are no laurels large enough to rest on as one dispenses these kinds of diatribes. Of course, France never ceases to surprise me on how low it can get when it comes to the denigration of Israel and the support of those whose raison d’être is actually a raison to cease from being as they offer themselves into martyrdom for Palestine.
     Two years ago, in an interview with German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Hessel was quoted saying: « If I may risk a daring parallel with matters I am involved with, I’ll say this : the German occupation (of France) was, if one is to compare it, for instance, with the current occupation of Palestine by Israelis, a rather mild one, excepted for some unusual facts like arrests, internment, executions, or the looting of works of art. »
     More than a daring parallel, such a statement is a major slap in the face of world history not to mention the Jewish psyche. Not only Hessel compares Israelis to Nazis but he also belittles the Shoah and the Nazi occupation by describing the events as “mild”, thus virtually eradicating any guilt and responsibility from Nazi Germany.
     Such an outrageously antisemitic statement should have instantly ruined anybody’s reputation regardless of their heroic past, but this took place in postmodern, politically correct France, where moral decay has become a national sport!
      On March 7, President François Hollande honored Stéphane Hessel as a great hero of the French Republic at the Invalides Plaza in Paris ( the resting place of people like Napoleon), with pomp and circumstance. I sincerely doubt that many French citizen did object to that political parade, but Mr. Hollande should be very careful in deciding who he honors.
     It was just one year ago that Islamist Mohammed Merah killed seven people, including a rabbi and three Jewish students in Toulouse, before taking his own life. The Merah Affair hit France during the presidential elections and as it played out, became the problem of newly elected François Hollande.  Mr. Hollande has been seen at three different events in regards to the Merah Affair (the last one being March 17, 2013 on its first anniversary). The French President claims to have been affected and of being greatly concerned about the state of antisemitism in France. I think that such a statement is commendable, but only if followed by actions against the oldest hatred. Unfortunately, if the only recent action against antisemitism from the current French president is to honor the memory of a man who thinks that the Nazi occupation of France was a mild event in history, I fear for the Jews of France!
     I also fear that Mr. Hollande has shown that he cannot really be trusted when it comes to the protection of the French Jewish community.  Additionally, through some of his recent choices, he appears to be encouraging judeophobia.
     Again, I do not wish to disregard the many years that Mr. Hessel spent serving his country, but the last decade or so he spent spewing his words of hatred against my people should at least be placed in the scale before he receives such a high honor.
     The late Stephane Hessel was no hero and neither is Mr. Hollande who vacillates between empty words of support for Israel and measurable actions against her. At the end of the day it is all about integrity and the will to stand for the truth. But that is already hard to do for those of us who have a personal relationship with the living God of the universe through the death and resurrection of Yeshua of Nazareth for their sins, so why am I surprised about the actions of those who do not know Him? They can certainly use our prayers though!