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Union a certain part of the population says, "Something new is hap–
pening." But I think that most intellectuals don't feel it is very new,
although you will always find someone who thinks it's new. But the
general position among the intellectuals, I would say, is that the fact
that nobody knew what had happened in Russia during the last few
months was a shock to all those who said something really new had
happened.
Franfois Baudry:
There are two or three issues which you haven't
mentioned, although you've touched on them. One of them is the
issue of anti-Semitism. In this country there is a very strong pro–
Israel movement, which does not exist in France, certainly not in the
same sectors and not to the same degree. And with the viewing of
Shoah
last year, at least on the East Coast, there was a very strong in–
terest in keeping the Holocaust alive. I wonder what the attitude of
the French intellectuals is now towards anti-Semitism. A related
issue is the attitude towards the extreme rightist renewel in East Ger–
many. A third issue is the response of the French intellectuals to the
oil crisis and their friendship with the Arabs. Many people feel that
France has betrayed Israel, particularly since De Gaulle.
Dominique Schnapper:
Of course, French Jews, as you know, are much
less numerous than American ones, and they playa much smaller
role in French politics. They playa role in French politics not as
Jews but as other French citizens do. There are some Jewish
organizations that have more or less the same position on Israel as
the Americans. But they playa much smaller role. Judging by the
publications and the polls it seems that anti-Semitism is no more
~n
issue among all the "legitimate" parties, either on the right or on the
left. Le Pen is "illegitimate" among intellectuals and politicians. I
don't know if you heard about the famous "detail"? Until the very
day ofthe "detail" he had been extremely cautious, and there was not
a word he uttered that could lead one to accuse him of anti–
Semitism.
Anti-Arabic feelings have taken the place of anti-Semitic feel–
ings. Anti-Semitic feelings are no longer expressed in France. Not
that they don't exist - they exist in all Western countries - but it's not
a political issue.
There was a crisis in '67. I suppose you are referring to De
Gaulle's position.
It
marked the end of a very happy period in the
history of the Jews in France when French policy was one hundred
percent on Israel's side, against the Algerians . That stopped in '67
and never resumed in the same way. Giscard was extremely un-
