12 March 2007

Nice is nice. And Juden frei.

We, Israelis, do experience a certain feeling of inferiority when visiting Europe. Europeans invest a lot of effort and attention in conservation of their history, be it ancient buildings, writings and traditions. It is not that we do not have some, even more ancient, artifacts to boast, but where the visual splendor, impressive ceremonies and just endearing quirks are concerned, you cannot beat the good ole Europe.

In some cases, upkeeping the traditions became an obsession. An especially poignant case came to light in Nice.

A French newspaper revealed over the weekend that some 1,000 apartment buildings in the Mediterranean city of Nice have maintained a decades-old municipal regulation barring Jews from becoming tenants. The regulation was put in place during World War II, when parts of France were cooperating and collaborating with their Nazi occupiers.
This is what I call sticking to a tradition! Really touching.

To have a worthy answer to that Nice custom, I suggest we look up a clause on the treatment of French folks somewhere in the Bible, I am sure we'll be able to find some traditional way of ruining their appetite.

Er... on second thought, there is no mention of the French in the Bible. How could there be? My stupid...

Update: it is not only France that sticks to traditions:
A German town has been forced to make the embarrassing admission that Adolf Hitler is still one of its honorary citizens just three months before it is due to host the G8 summit.
Yeah...

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