"Here we're not in Palestine, we will crush you Jews, we will
smash in your heads," called out a band of about 30 blacks in
Paris' Jewish quarter last week. Clad in black battle garb
the members of the antisemitic gang held a military parade on
Rue des Rosiers, forcing Jewish store owners in the old
Jewish neighborhood to shut tight their storefronts and
hide.
Experts on antisemitic organizations said the marchers
belonged to Tribu Ka, whose members serve as bodyguards for
comedian and instigator Dieudonne Mbala Mbala and are close
to Louis Farakhan's Nation of Islam. Their appearance and
aggressiveness instilled fear as they marched, armed with
knives and metal rods and shouting antisemitic slurs.
Not a single policeman was to be seen among the flocks of
policemen usually roaming Paris streets and issuing parking
tickets. The narrow Rue des Rosiers was packed with people at
the time and the blacks pressed them up against the walls.
Shoppers and passersby fled to side streets. Locals felt sure
they had come to launch a pogrom, but apparently their
objective was just a show of force and to intimidate.
Neighborhood residents are already exhausted by the endless
construction work the municipality has been carrying out on
the street. Nearby streets have been closed to parking, which
has led many Jewish merchants to close their businesses and
leave the Jewish quarter, to be replaced by clothing
boutiques.
The following day, the head of the Jewish quarter and the
Deputy Mayor visited Rue des Rosiers to allay merchants'
concerns. The Deputy Mayor trudged through mud caused by the
construction work but did not succeed in calming anyone.
"It lasted only 15 minutes, but we felt so frightened time
seemed to stand still," one store owner told me. "The blacks
looked like trained soldiers and as disciplined as robots.
Their commander walked in the middle between two rows. It
looked as if they had come to pick a fight. One of them took
pictures of the street and of themselves. `Where are the
Beitar members? Where are the JDL members? We swore we would
break them,' they shouted."
Young Jews from the suburbs who usually stand aimlessly along
the sides of the street on Sundays did not come. One week
earlier blacks from the same gang infiltrated a Jewish self-
defense training session and were driven away.
The police arrived at the Jewish quarter 20 minutes after the
gang vanished and proceeded to issue parking tickets. Police
from the Crime Brigade stopped 20 blacks for identity checks
about an hour later at the entrance to the Tribu Ka center in
the Tenth Arrondissement. "We didn't find any weapons on
them," said one policeman, and no arrests were made.
Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy condemned "the incitement
of hatred and violence toward Jews" and promised to contact
the Police Minister to have the organization declared illegal
and disband it. That evening the website the organization
uses to disseminate antisemitic propaganda was blocked and
later Sarkozy met with CRIF Chairman Roger Cukierman.
The Jews and government authorities are worried that their
aggressive appearance could create unrest and spread to
youths in the African community. The head of the gang of
barbarians that killed Ilan Halimi, Hy"d, was also a
French black man.
The head of the organization, who goes by the name Kemi Seba,
told a Le Monde reporter, "If being antisemitic means
organizing defense against attacks by black haters, then I'm
an antisemite." He claimed the Jewish Defense League attacked
blacks during the demonstration following the death of Ilan
Halimi.
French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy visited the Rue des
Rosiers, promising to disband Tribu Ka. "We will defend the
Jews. A single Jew in fear of antisemitic attacks is a stain
on the French flag," he said.
Hundreds of Jews were waiting for him on the narrow street,
shouting, "Start doing your job." They expressed a lack of
faith in the government's will and ability to act against
antisemitic violence. When Sarkozy pledged to break up Tribu
Ka, Jews in the street responded, "We love France but are
being forced to leave it."
President Chirac displayed the same resolve in a meeting with
CRIF Chairman Roger Cukierman. The only step taken so far has
been to take the organization's website off the Internet.
Black toughs can be seen guarding the entrance to the
organization's headquarters in the tenth Arrondissement and
Dieudonne's nightclub. According to Jewish radio, the
controversial comedian himself sent them to the Jewish
Quarter.
Gang leader Kemi Seba continues to issue threats freely. "Had
we come to attack Jews nobody in the Jewish Quarter would
have been left whole," he told reporters. "We came to fight
with Beitar and the Jewish Defense League. We didn't find
them and left."
The frightening infiltration put the previously unknown group
into the headlines. Police intelligence say they have just 30
members, but Rue des Rosiers merchants counted 40 marchers
wearing uniforms with knee-length leather jackets. Despite
their small numbers, the authorities seem concerned, which
has the Jews even more worried. Seba sent Jewish
organizations messages and threats after the arrest of Fofana
for the killing of Ilan Halimi, saying that if Fofana was
harmed, Jews would be harmed.
"Too many organizations in France are threatening the Jews,"
a kosher pizzeria owner told Sarkozy. "Different [menaces]
keep appearing on the Rue des Rosiers. We don't know what
they want from us."
Jean Paul Kami, an expert on extreme organizations, told the
Minister, "The neo-Nazis never had the gall to penetrate the
Jewish Quarter in such an antagonistic and ordered way.
Shutting down their website is not enough." Sarkozy was
surrounded by reporters and policemen, making it difficult
for the Jews to approach him.
Pierre Lelouch of the National Assembly ruling party, UMP,
said it is hard to battle small groups within the confines of
the law. Judges limit the type of actions that can be taken,
citing freedom of expression. On the same day, philosopher
Alain Finkielkraut was tried for supporting a book against
Islam by Italian reporter Oriana Fallaci.
Any action against the Tribu Ka is liable to re-ignite
rioting in Parisian suburbs. Before Sarkozy's arrival Jewish
students and JDL members debated the proper way to halt the
threat — whether to rely on the authorities or self-
defense. Figures in Jewish circles said JDL's style of action
is perceived by blacks and Arabs as aggressive, endangers the
Jewish community and allows newspapers like Le Monde
to blame the Jewish community for forging a pact with Le Pen.
JDL Head Michael Carlisle demanded the police deploy forces
in the Jewish Quarter, saying, "If not, we'll take
action."
