OPINION
Lots of people hate the French. They cite all manner of reasons for doing so, however erroneous.
“Surrender monkeys”? Never forget that the French sacrificed around 20 million of their own to stop the first march of German militarism. Even before surrendering in the face of the second, some 73,000 French laid down their lives. In the 168-odd major wars fought in French history, the “surrender monkeys” have won 109, lost 49 and drawn 10.
“Rude”? Well, only if you’re 1) in Paris, and, 2) rude by their standards. Foreigners who march into a shop without so much as a bonjour are rubbing Gallic standards very much the wrong way. Not to mention Brits or Yanks who think that shouting and gesticulating makes English somehow more clear.
And one way we could all learn from the French is at least trying to crack down on religious extremism. You know the one we mean.
French authorities were imposing a newly announced ban Monday on the abaya Muslim dress for women in schools, with over 500 establishments under scrutiny as children across the country returned to class.
The government announced last month it was banning the abaya in schools, saying it broke the rules on secularism in education that have already seen Muslim headscarves banned on the grounds they constitute a display of religious affiliation.
The French have more reason than most to say non to Islamic religious extremism. For the past few years, Islamic terror and violence, either plotted or carried out, has been occurring at the rate of one nearly two weeks. France has also, like Germany, seen thousands of church vandalisms.
Unlike Germany, though, the French government is actually trying to do something about it.
The move gladdened the political right but the hard-left argued it represented an affront to civil liberties.
“Things are going well this morning. There is no incident for the moment, we will continue all day to be vigilant so that the students understand the meaning of this rule,” said Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne as she visited a school in northern France.
But she added that there were a “certain number” of schools where girls had arrived wearing an abaya.
“Some young girls agreed to remove it. For the others, we will have discussions with them, and use educational approaches to explain that there is a law that is being applied,” she added.
The left, as usual, is firmly on the side of religious extremists.
The hard-left has accused the government of centrist President Emmanuel Macron of using the abaya ban to compete with Marine Le Pen‘s far-right National Rally, and of shifting further to the right.
Education Minister Gabriel Attal told RTL radio that authorities had identified 513 schools that could be affected by the ban at the start of the school year […]
Some leading figures on the right have called on the government to make children wear school uniforms in state schools, and Attal said he would announce a uniform trial in the autumn.
As tends to happen in schools, the bad behaviour of a few has ruined it for everyone.
A law introduced in March 2004 banned “the wearing of signs or outfits by which students ostensibly show a religious affiliation” in schools.
This includes large crosses, Jewish kippas and Islamic headscarves.
VOA News
I can’t find any incidences of Jewish terror attacks, though, and the last one ascribed to Christian motives was way back in the 80s.