Showing posts with label Laicite. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Laicite. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 14, 2022

Professor Cyrille Cohen sounds as though he’d be the perfect person to call on if you’ve got questions to ask about vaccine effectiveness against COVID-19. Cohen is head of the Laboratory of Immunotherapy and vice dean of Life Sciences at Israel’s Bar Ilan University. But instead of asking him about the virus, the host of a French television show berated Cohen, his invited guest, for wearing a yarmulke. A second panelist, French-Jewish journalist Elisabeth Levy, seemed to take special umbrage at Cohen’s religious apparel, telling the eminent scientist that covering one’s head with a skullcap is “indiscreet.”

In other words, what happened here on French TV is that a Jew was put on trial. It began with a question bearing no relationship to the topic at hand. “I will ask a question because a lot of people are asking and it has nothing to do with medicine,” said the CNews host to Prof. Cohen. a lot of people are asking why the professor is wearing a religious symbol in the studio?”

Confused at being asked about his attire rather than his specialty, Cohen replied that wearing a cap on his head wasn’t any kind of special statement for the viewers. It’s just what he does. "Why?" said Cohen, "Because I wear it every day."

That is when Levy jumped into the conversation. “I also asked him this when we went to the coffee machine."

And in that moment, the gig was up.

There were not “a lot of people” asking why Cohen wears what he wears. It was a single person, Elisabeth Levy, who had inspired this coup that made for some remarkable television. Remarkably hateful, that is. Hateful in that a Jew was put on trial for following his beliefs. And if that’s not antisemitic, what is?

Had a discussion on vaccines been on the table at all? Or was it all about luring Cohen onto the show to lambaste him on air for wearing a Jewish beanie on his head? It’s not such a crazy idea, really. Attacking a guy for his visibly Jewish appearance is bound to be a heckuva lot more exciting than talking about COVID-19--makes for MUCH better television.

We will never know whether the ambush of Prof. Cohen was coincidental or by design. But we do know that Elisabeth Levy saw an opening to divert attention away from Cohen, and toward herself, that all might see how woke she is for playing the role of Jew in name only (JINO).

Cohen understood now that he had been invited not to discussed vaccines, but to be mocked and reviled for being visibly Jewish on French soil. 

“Full disclosure,” said Cohen of the thin piece of cloth on his head, “I wear it every day. I did not put it on especially for this show,” and yet here he was, being forced to defend his religious practice without warning, while live on TV. As opposed to doing what he’d been invited to do: talk about the effectiveness of vaccines. Something that actually falls within the purview of his special expertise.

Levy, naturally, was unsympathetic. She didn't care. She wanted the spotlight on her, Levy. So she took over from the host completely, lecturing Cohen about the French concept of “laicite,” secularism, as the host sat back to enjoy the show. “You understand, don’t you?” said Levy, as if Cohen were a five-year-old. “To us, secularism is the standard. This is not against religion, but you should try to observe your religion to yourself. Do you understand?”

It is unfortunate that someone forgot to tell Levy that in the scheme of things—in the hierarchy of Jewish tribal affiliations, that is—Cohen trumps Levy. Even when it comes to French daytime television fodder. This Cohen knew what to say.

“They call me ‘Cohen,’” said the immunologist, shouting and gesturing to the heavens. “[It’s] my name! Why would you want me to keep my religion to myself? I come from Israel.”

Simple logic. Professor Cohen doesn’t live in France. He is not bound by the illiberal and immoral French laws that forbid Yidden to show their fear of God at swimming pools and public schools.

Elisabeth Levy, however, cares nothing for logic and even less about science, ostensibly the topic under discussion. Levy is like a dog with a bone. She simply won’t let go. She knows what her audience likes as well as what they don’t like: Jews that look, well, JEWY. Levy was playing to the crowd and darned if she wouldn't exploit that for all it's worth.

“There are [other] people here who call themselves ‘Cohen’ and they do not wear a yarmulke. So do like them and not like you,” said Levy to Cohen, whom she believes to be not only clueless, but obstreperous for his unwillingness to adopt secular French group-think. Indignant now (or more likely pretending to be), she begins “Do you not understand that in France . . .”

But Cohen wasn’t having any more of these "lessons." He understood what this was about:  Jews and Jew-hate. As such he did not fear to inform Levy, the show’s host, and French television viewers at large, that the jig was up: he was on to them. Still, as a man of science, he tried reason:

“If a priest were to arrive here, or the pope—would you ask him to remove his cross or his head covering?” asks Cohen.

“The truth is, said the show's host, "that if the pope were to arrive at my morning show, we would leave it,” he said, laughing, and scratching his head, a gesture meant to be impish, charming, and human. Fodder for his viewers. A bit of candy.

A gentleman to the end in this unwitting comedy of manners, Cohen notes that it was never his intention to cause offense. The wearing of a skullcap, he said, was not meant to “insult any of your viewers.”

Because, duh. It wasn't. Cohen hadn't done anything weird or offensive. He hadn't done anything wrong He had only exercised his freedom of religion. Something he had come to expect and appreciate as an Israeli citizen.

Not only did Cohen do nothing wrong, he did everything right. He is a hero: zealous to serve his God, and unafraid to call out vain idiots like Elisabeth Levy. 

We may never know whether Levy colluded with the host of this show to produce this very public, antisemitic ambush of an eminent scientist. But someone ought to tell her (probably more than once, slowly) that in the Jewish scheme of things, Cohen trumps Levy. 

Every. Single. Time.


Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!

 

 

AddToAny

EoZ Book:"Protocols: Exposing Modern Antisemitism"

Printfriendly

EoZTV Podcast

Podcast URL

Subscribe in podnovaSubscribe with FeedlyAdd to netvibes
addtomyyahoo4Subscribe with SubToMe

search eoz

comments

Speaking

translate

E-Book

For $18 donation








Sample Text

EoZ's Most Popular Posts in recent years

Hasbys!

Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون



This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For over 19 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

Donate!

Donate to fight for Israel!

Monthly subscription:
Payment options


One time donation:

subscribe via email

Follow EoZ on Twitter!

Interesting Blogs

Blog Archive