This morning, Tuesday 16, a group of young Betar activists has attacked a bookshop in Paris. This bookshop, the Librairie du Savoir, is known to sell the book of Roger Garaudy, "The Founding Myths of Israeli Politics". The book has attracted a wide controversy. The sale of the book is perfectly legal and no restriction has been edicted by authorities. The author may face a trial in the future but nothing has been decided so far.
The Betar activists invaded the bookshop, beating up three persons. They concentrated their savage assault on the shop owner, Mr. Georges Danesco, a philosoph by training, and a political refugee from Ceaucescu Rumania. Mr. Danesco was later taken to a hospital. He seems to suffer from a broken skull. The Betar also spread red paint on the books displayed in the bookshop.
The Betar has its origin in the Zionist movement initiated in the thirties by Jabotinski who modelled his organization onto the Italian Fascist movement. For a long time, the Betar people had close relations with the Fascist and Nazi regimes (see L. Brenner, "Zionism in the Age of Dictators", 1983). In Paris, they are known to have assaulted people or meetings they had decided to suppress. They are known to use violence and enjoy official military training in Israel during the summer vacations. They have attacked right in the middle of the Palace of Justice during several trials of Prof. Faurisson. They are known to have participated in the assault of another bookshop, la Vieille Taupe, and were severely beaten by the police. They enjoy high level of protection and their agressions have never been condemned in court.
Physical attacks against persons and books combined with impunity through political patronage, this is a fair description of street Fascism in the past. As usual the defenders of human rights and intellectual freedom will remain silent, out of fear, or out of agreement with these methods.
LE TEMPS IRREPARABLE, Paris,