French press review 17 July 2014

Anti-Semitism, racism, the Tour de France are among the subjects addressed in today's papers ..

Right-wing Le Figaro looks to Gaza, suggesting that recent disturbances in Paris involving pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli demonstrators are worrying the Interior Ministry, that the middle eastern conflict is leading to an increase in tension between certain French communities. Two synagogues were targeted by some Palestinian supporters in the area around the Bastille last Sunday. There's a possibility that another demonstration, planned for the capital next Saturday, could be banned because of the public order risk involved.

The Figaro editorial takes the opportunity of these latest clashes to further fustigate president Hollande's recently repeated promise to give foreigners the vote in local elections. The president wants to see foreigners given access to the political process in their chosen country. Figaro says those who threw stones at synagogues and chanted "death to Jews" last weekend clearly have no respect for France's republican principles. Therefore, concludes Le Figaro, the debate on voting rights is ill-timed and inappropriate. The Le Figaro headline is entitled "The price of blindness".

Left-leaning Libération considers the nine-month sentence (and hefty fine) yesterday handed down to a former extreme right National Front election candidate, for a racist remark about the French Justice Minister, Christiane Taubira.The former candidate, Anne-Sophie Leclère, called the minister a monkey. Libé's editorial makes the good point that racism has nothing to do with opinion. It's a crime. The severity of the punishment (she could end up serving nearly seven months in jail) has already been condemned by Leclère and the National Front (which faces a 30 thousand euro fine).

Libération wonders if prison sentences are the best way of combating racism, but agrees that this has been an exemplary case, especially in view of the current wave of racist insults in sport, in entertainment and by such political luminaries as National Front founder, Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Catholic La Croix looks to the north African Sahel, that vast sub-Saharan breeding ground of terrorism and common criminality. French president Hollande is on a three-day visit to the region, in the wake of his Bastille Day promise to extend the French military operation in Mali to a broader regional anti-terrorist effort. It's a difficult task, given the vast size of the region, the complete porosity of the theoretical national borders, and the fact that dozens of different groups, with several different agendas, are acting independently. Most of them are very mobile, and very well armed. The weapons seem mostly to have come from the arsenal of former Libyan leader Moammar Kadhafi; the running expenses may be financed by Qatar.

They're starting to repeat themselves over at sports daily, L'Equipe, or maybe it's just a case of recycling, no pun intended.

For at least the second time this week, the sports paper assures us that this is going to be the year of a French overall victory in the Tour de France cycle race.

The latest surge of optimism is due to Tony Gallopin, the man who warmed French hearts by taking the tour leader's yellow jersey on the eve of the July 14th national holiday. Yesterday, he won a tough stage into Oyonnax, moving up to fifth place in the overall classification.

He is, according to L'Equipe, leading nothing less than a "splendid revolution". Time will tell.