Maybe the French are starting to get a clue? Of course, I am an optimist....
A well-known French comic will be prosecuted for on-air antics that included dressing up as an Orthodox Jew and decrying an "American-Zionist" axis, the Paris prosecutor’s office said Friday. Dieudonne M’Bala M’Bala’s performance, which drew criticism from the French prime minister, came during a prime-time TV show, "On Ne Peut Pas Plaire a Tout le Monde," ("You Can’t Please Everybody") on Dec. 1. As part of the skit, the comic raised an arm and shouted "Isra-Heil!" — a reference to the Nazi slogan, "Heil Hitler." Prosecutors opened a preliminary investigation Dec. 24 into whether the comic’s skit and "incriminating comments" constituted racial defamation. Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin has said he was "shocked" by the performance, and the show’s host, Marc-Olivier Fogiel, apologized for the episode. Several Jewish groups complained. On Thursday, Justice Minister Dominique Perben said that "justice would be inflexible" if racism is proven. "Racism is an evil that I don’t want to see develop in this country," Perben said. France has been battling a wave of anti-Semitic violence for more than two years, often involving attacks against Jewish schools, synagogues and community centers.
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