Video: Protesting Israeli “criminality” by … massive theft; Update: English subtitle version added
posted at 11:36 am on May 7, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
The French have an odd notion of boycotts. My good friend Scott Johnson at Power Line discovers this video of a “boycott” action in France organized, apparently, by Europalestine.com, or at least publicized by them. Take a look at the uniformed thuggery that takes place in a French grocery store:
Boycotts are perfectly legitimate free-market forms of protest — but this isn’t a boycott at all. A boycott is an organized effort to stop buying products or services from some offending source. This is an organized theft ring and nothing more. Unless they’re paying for those groceries, which would defeat the entire purpose of the protest, the Palestine Vivra group is committing grand theft and conspiracy to commit grand theft. That’s not a legitimate act of political protest; it’s thuggery. The most ironic part of this video is the frequent references to Israel’s “criminality” while the groups steals everything that they can grab … and while their fellow countrymen don’t lift a finger to stop them.
It’s not Krystallnacht, but it’s in the same league.
Update: Scott sends this note from one of his readers in Europe:
This video is even more grotesque than you think. It was shot in a suburb of Paris called Aulnay-sous-Bois. The next-door town to Aulnay is called Drancy, about 1 mile away. Drancy was used by the Nazis between 1942-1944 as a deportation holding camp for the Jews of Paris prior to the deportation to the extermination camps in eastern Europe. 65,000 Jews passed through Drancy, of whom 63,000 were killed. In other words, the Israeli boycotters have chosen, of all the supermarkets in France, the one closest to France’s most important holocaust memorial site. Look on google maps to see how close they are.
Google Maps has a nifty embed feature, so look no further:
View Larger Map
Update II: HA reader Bethany sends the code for the same video, with English subtitles:
If anything, the translation makes the entire event look even more stupid. They screech about Carrefour carrying products that they say originates from stolen lands … and then they steal the products. They even steal flowers that have no origin labeling because they might be Israeli. I guess flowers don’t grow in Flanders Field any longer.
Blowback
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Can we boycott the bailouts by raiding government mints and vaults?
Darth Executor on May 7, 2009 at 11:39 AM
Watch this and say goodbye to France.
http://www.youtube.com:80/watch?v=6-3X5hIFXYU
roninacreage on May 7, 2009 at 11:40 AM
The French are handing over their country with both hands….kind of like us.
ctmom on May 7, 2009 at 11:42 AM
Nothing new here; brave “protesters” always cloak their criminality and deviance in the garb of terms such as speaking truth to power, freedom fighting, social justice, etc. Peaceniks beating you over the head with a baseball bat until you agree that violence is bad.
Even seen a blackout in a major city? The stores are broken into and stripped bare by people who then use the excuse of “I have a RIGHT to this tv because the man be keepin’ me down!”
Bishop on May 7, 2009 at 11:45 AM
Typical French, they didn’t do much to stop the Germans from annexing their country in WWII why would today be any different.
The French will be the first European nation to fall to fascist Islam, the UK will be next and I say this time around (conidering the way they have thwarted our war efforts in this fight) we don’t lift a f-ing finger to help them, let them suffer the consequences of their cowardice and appeasement!
Liberty or Death on May 7, 2009 at 11:46 AM
Looks like the same type of thug tactics used by democrats in this country. It’s called justifiable looting.
Maybe a shoot on site order is needed?
Where were their cowardly police force with the tear gas, batons, and hand cuffs?
roninacreage on May 7, 2009 at 11:46 AM
These “Youths” today. Oy
bluelightbrigade on May 7, 2009 at 11:46 AM
This video is several weeks old.
RobCon on May 7, 2009 at 11:46 AM
After the Savage banning incident, I say screw all of europe. Even those who are wary of the influx of islam into their countries qualified for the Darwin Award. They are more concerned with their invaders rights to the point of ludicrous.
Blake on May 7, 2009 at 11:47 AM
Amen.
roninacreage on May 7, 2009 at 11:47 AM
islamic nazis
jeffp on May 7, 2009 at 11:48 AM
Other sites provided subtitles for those of us who don’t speak Frog. The annoying whistling is a cute tactic to suggest an innocent idealism.
They are not stealing but making a spectacle of themselves while taking the products off the shelves but not leaving the store with them. Pure agit-prop.
RobCon on May 7, 2009 at 11:51 AM
Liberty or Death on May 7, 2009 at 11:46 AM
French WWII rifle for sale on E-Bay:
Never fired dropped once.
faol on May 7, 2009 at 11:52 AM
They tried this in Toronto, word got around and Israel supporters bought out the entire story inventory of Israeli products.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHPXMTrrMoA
Alouette on May 7, 2009 at 11:52 AM
That’s a whole lot of hands that will have to be cut off for theft.
kingsjester on May 7, 2009 at 11:52 AM
I’d like to see them try that at a grocery store in Texas.
txag92 on May 7, 2009 at 11:52 AM
White flag on aisle 3.
gregbert on May 7, 2009 at 11:52 AM
That’s ok, I’ve got my own boycott in place against Palestinian products.
It’s the easiest boycott ever since they don’t produce anything except suicide bombers.
Bishop on May 7, 2009 at 11:52 AM
Just an aside:
I was in class this week learning about France in the post WWII era. Teach showed us a photo of French university students protesting. I said to myself, “why?”
She explained that they had FREE education K through University, free everything, but we complaining about “class size,” and “access to professors.”
It warranted the destruction and burning of many Fiats.
Unreal. French are greedy little brats.
blatantblue on May 7, 2009 at 11:52 AM
I really love the historic tie-in to Drancy’s infamous role in WWII.
RobCon on May 7, 2009 at 11:53 AM
Wonder how’d they like it if we did the same with french wine and other products
Defector01 on May 7, 2009 at 11:53 AM
France needs a new Underground.
Patrick S on May 7, 2009 at 11:55 AM
Ah, la belle France… hardly a people is more likely and less justified to act culturally superior. When Tom De Lay had listened for several minutes to a French minister excoriate the U.S. after 9/11, he finally asked “Do you speak German?”
“Mais, non,” came the puzzled reply.
“You’re welcome,” said De Lay as he left.”
btw, “Allons enfants de criminalite…” is gorgeous, and scans perfectly. I’ll be singing it all day.
warbaby on May 7, 2009 at 11:57 AM
One elderly French lady congratualtes these thugs. Apparently her hair grew back from 60 years ago.
http://fcit.usf.edu/HOLOCAUST/gallery/ww2106.HTM
RobCon on May 7, 2009 at 11:59 AM
I just wanna cry…the entire world has gone insane and there’s no one to stop it….
ladyingray on May 7, 2009 at 12:00 PM
I can’t get to YouTube from work, but there is a roughly 7 minute video on the demographic changes taking place in Europe right now. It’s basically inevitable at this point that Europe will either have a civil war to reclaim itself or a slow, mostly quiet death.
BadgerHawk on May 7, 2009 at 12:02 PM
What makes y’all think this won’t happen in this country? Let the thugs steal you blind lest you be called a racist.
Zorg on May 7, 2009 at 12:02 PM
It truly confuses me, why people support this dreg. Some countries, including ours, seems perfectly content, and happy to succumb, and bend to the will of islam.
Do the women that support this not realize the repurcussions of it? Do some research, and see just how much freedoms are afforded to Islamic women.
I for one, am not willing to just give up, and bow down to this. I appreciate my freedoms. I appreciate over these many years, as a nation, those who fought, and died, for our freedoms.
This kind of pandering, and surrender just puts a knot in the pit of my stomach.
Is this really what so called feminist, liberal women want for themselves, and their daughters, or neices, or friends?
capejasmine on May 7, 2009 at 12:04 PM
BOYCOTT SHARIA LAW
Branch Rickey on May 7, 2009 at 12:08 PM
We shouldn’t have to do this.
Eradicate the problem. Deport Muslims from other nations and monitor those within.
Mommypundit on May 7, 2009 at 12:10 PM
I just wanna cry…the entire world has gone insane and there’s no one to stop it….
ladyingray on May 7, 2009 at 12:00 PM
Oh yes there is, we’re just waiting quietly for the call. It will come eventually and you will see a mass of people answer.
Bishop on May 7, 2009 at 12:10 PM
O/T – Mark Steyn hosting Rush…
ladyingray on May 7, 2009 at 12:10 PM
Drancy, two weeks ago.
Shy Guy on May 7, 2009 at 12:11 PM
They won’t come to my house and do this…and live to brag about it….
ladyingray on May 7, 2009 at 12:12 PM
Carl in Jerusalem covered this a few weeks ago. It’s quite sad this is now commonplace in Europe. What’s even sadder, is not everyone in this video is Arab. According to Carl’s sources, there a few self-hating Jews participating in this theft.
Lance Murdock on May 7, 2009 at 12:13 PM
Heh, yep, that’s one of my favoites! I also hear they have white flags on sale too!
Liberty or Death on May 7, 2009 at 12:15 PM
No one can find those either….The suicide bombers have a short shelf life so no one stocks up on them anyway.
rich801 on May 7, 2009 at 12:15 PM
Couldn’t happen to a nicer cuntry.
Au Revoir Frogs, enjoy those burkas.
omnipotent on May 7, 2009 at 12:19 PM
Despicable.
BadgerHawk on May 7, 2009 at 12:19 PM
Heh, yep, that’s one of my favoites! I also hear they have white flags on sale too!
Liberty or Death on May 7, 2009 at 12:15 PM
As well as French tanks with one forward gear and five reverse gears.
Bishop on May 7, 2009 at 12:20 PM
As much as I hate typing this, much less thinking it….the day may come, when France, and even the UK, and Germany call us up, asking for help with this dilema.
I would personally say to them….you made your mess…now clean it up. We aren’t bailing you out again, if you’re just going to toss it out.
capejasmine on May 7, 2009 at 12:21 PM
…and I’m going to say a harsh thing: what do you expect?
Allow me to explain…I don’t think that Muslims or Arabs or Mahgrebis (as I’m informed that the majority of Muslims in France are North African, many from Algeria) or Palestinians are in any way predisposed to criminality. I don’t think that they’re naturally thieves or miscreants, and they’re certainly not children, attributes ascribed to blacks and hispanics in my youth.
But, they’ve been painted by the Left as “victims”, which in leftist thinking exempts them from normal adult social behavior and responsibilities. As victims, they can behave as children, so long as their “cause” is fashionable and is directed against the enemies of the Left (i.e., the Right, or anyone whom the Right enables or approves of). So, they can steal, wreck, riot, and in the extremes kill with impugnity, and the Left will always have a ready excuse for their antisocial and occasionally criminal behavior.
In the film snippet, some scruffy spokesman is reading out some statement, doubtlessly dripping with self-righteousness (I won’t understand French, so I’m inferring from past protests). His compatriots are sitting in the aisles by the registers, blocking shoppers from checking out their purchases. Anyone who’s shopped at a Wal*Mart on a Saturday can appreciate the “citizenship” of that move (27 registers, 3 open). But, they’re “passionate” about “social justice” for “Palestine” (as fictional a place as “Narnia”), so they’re given a pass.
I don’t blame the French for letting these thugs get away with this theft. They’ve been conditioned, as have Americans broadly speaking, to “go along/get along”, and not bother the angry brown people. They might have some historical grievance for which they (the French) are somehow responsible, and letting them act like spoilt three-year-olds and common back-alley hoodlums is somehow payback.
So, here we have demonstrated the slippery slope of “victimism”. So, after defeated in a fair election, not getting what they want, homosexuals in California can now yell disgusting things at people, damage property, and have a public tantrum. They didn’t receive the social justice they felt is their due as “victims” — notice that they themselves set the rules — and so can act like children.
The cops who pummelled Rodney King are let off, we can have a murderous storm in Los Angeles, where an innocent truck driver is crippled on camera. “…but,” says the Left, “the thugs doing the beating are the victims here”, reducing the truckdriver to a prop in a twisted political theater.
This is all standard communist/socialist boilerplate, a combination of “Animal Farm” and Saul Alinsky’s wet dreams come real. That, and I have to point out, the fact that this criminality is in French, makes it all the more odious….
“Palestine” doesn’t deserve our attention…on account of the methods those who support it are willing to use to get it.
Puritan1648 on May 7, 2009 at 12:22 PM
faol on May 7, 2009 at 11:52 AM
almost cost me a keyboard. ROFHLOL
chemman on May 7, 2009 at 12:24 PM
This is what IslamoFascists do…and what the neutered French allow.
JIMV on May 7, 2009 at 12:24 PM
Krystallnacht, indeed.
Around the 2:50-2:59 mark (displaying the shelf empty of L’Oreal products) he says:
“This is what awaits all those who support Israel”.
batter on May 7, 2009 at 12:26 PM
Cool. I need me a 56″ plasma from BestBuy. China sucks and I’m gonna show them just how much they suck.
Limerick on May 7, 2009 at 12:29 PM
All of a sudden, I feel the need to go buy some L’Oreal shampoo.
batter on May 7, 2009 at 12:29 PM
As Bishop alluded to earlier, the thought which kept occurring to me as I watched this sad travesty was: “Looky at all those products produced, marketed, and exported from Israel. Wonder what their precious ‘Palestinians’ produce/export (apart from misery and death).”
The pathetic irony of these vermin apologists’ attack on the bountiful fruits (literally!) of a vibrant, healthy, thriving, democratic society, while languishing and raging in a self-imposed state of perpetual victimhood is as clear an example of the true dynamic in the Middle East (and beyond!) as I have ever seen. As ever, I grieve for the the squandered possibilities in the minds and lives of those children whose development has been hijacked by this horrid world-view.
Israel made the desert bloom. These miscreants can only muster the imagination to try and make the trees wither.
Noocyte on May 7, 2009 at 12:30 PM
A FRENCH protest supporting the PALESTINIANS and against ISREAL! First question…Why are their t-shirts in ENGLISH???
Who are they trying to influence or raise awareness? Code PINK, Move on, probably the left in general!
No problem, we will be over there saving their enlightened asses yet again in a few years.
IYAAYAS on May 7, 2009 at 12:31 PM
…the thing I don’t understand is the logic of it. The store has the products…therefore, Israel (and all of the middlemen inbetween) have been paid. The store will take the loss and reorder…basic retail.
…an actual boycott, where the targetted products gather dust on the shelves, ensures that the “offending” party does not get paid. As Ed points out, that’s sorta the point. Ripping off Wal*Mart Francais or where’er this was filmed only ensures that Israel gets paid.
…I hope that our Hebraic retailers spend the money on missles…and tank shells…and allow the poor, downtrodden Palestinians access to them, as well….
Puritan1648 on May 7, 2009 at 12:34 PM
Around the 2:50-2:59 mark (displaying the shelf empty of L’Oreal products) he says:
“This is what awaits all those who support Israel”.
batter on May 7, 2009 at 12:26 PM
Yes, you will all have limp, dirty hair.
I wonder if these fools believe they can boycott 95% of everything produced in the entire world, considering all the nations which trade with Israel.
Bishop on May 7, 2009 at 12:35 PM
Bye bye, France. Good riddance.
Drum on May 7, 2009 at 12:36 PM
How long until Obama’s “national service”
stromtroopersworkers are doing similar things here?infidel4life on May 7, 2009 at 12:41 PM
Staggering.
Drum on May 7, 2009 at 12:41 PM
Wow. I was totally on Israel’s side until this video of thuggish looting totally made me re-evaluate my entire position on the middle east. Now I totally sympathize with the unjust suffering of the Palestinian people and see those Jews for the sly, moneygrubbing monsters they are.
sarc off.
patriette on May 7, 2009 at 12:41 PM
…what, hygiene? Now, that’d be news coming out of France, to be sure!
Puritan1648 on May 7, 2009 at 12:43 PM
You mean they tend to go off rather easily?
Shy Guy on May 7, 2009 at 12:46 PM
I can’t remember the exact quote from General George Patton, but it was something along the lines of he’d rather have a column of German soldiers in front of him than a column of French soldiers behind him…smart man the George!
Liberty or Death on May 7, 2009 at 12:50 PM
Because there is no point in speaking French anymore. English and Arabic are the only realistic options. I wonder what the muslims are going to call France when they take over?
thuja on May 7, 2009 at 12:52 PM
Yep, and I will be one of those masses standing by your side!
Liberty or Death on May 7, 2009 at 12:53 PM
…allow me to jump on the “French surrender monkey” bandwagon: why do the French line their roads with trees? Because the Germans like to march in the shade.
Actually, and to be fair, the French were once a brave people, adventurous and forward-looking and political to their bones. Verdun and the loss of a generation changed that. That, and we in the US have had the luxury (until recently) of a diluted Left, although I’m sure it hasn’t looked diluted. The French and Euro-peons in general have had Communists and Socialists as full participating “partners” for generations, with all of the social chaos and rot that this entails.
It’s a matter of expectations: if you’ve got a very vocal class spouting Marxist boilerplate at the drop of a beret at every turn, as Mr. Goebbels pointed out, the repetion of the lies about history, human nature and political theory will start looking practical. It’s like blaming the children of alcoholics for drinking…sure, it’s their decision…but, it’s a family tradition….
Puritan1648 on May 7, 2009 at 12:55 PM
It warranted the destruction and burning of many Fiats.
Unreal. French are greedy little brats.
blatantblue on May 7, 2009 at 11:52 AM
I think those Fiats were already on fire. The Italian Pinto.
faol on May 7, 2009 at 12:57 PM
I will stand with you, wielding weapons of targeted destruction, with my father’s hunting knife on my side.
NaCly dog on May 7, 2009 at 12:59 PM
WOLVERINES!!!
Liberty or Death on May 7, 2009 at 1:01 PM
I will stand with you, wielding weapons of targeted destruction, with my father’s hunting knife on my side.
NaCly dog on May 7, 2009 at 12:59 PM
And I, with my spear and magic helmet.
faol on May 7, 2009 at 1:06 PM
“Who are they trying to influence or raise awareness? Code PINK, Move on, probably the left in general!”
No, in France it’s Code Stink.
Vera71 on May 7, 2009 at 1:08 PM
So they took all the Israeli items with out paying for them. In America, that is called theft. It is also stupid because the only ones they are hurting are the stores since the produce is ALREADY PAID FOR.
Now the stores have to go buy more. Probably from Israel.
dumbasses.
sonofdy on May 7, 2009 at 1:09 PM
And Europeans want us to become more like them! They don’t understand, apparently, that their women will all be in burkas soon and the men will be whipping themselves over the Islamic holidays. Obviously, their MSM must be as gross as our own. Thank God for Fox and Rush (and Hot Air).
Christian Conservative on May 7, 2009 at 1:13 PM
Are you sure that’s in France? Looks like an ACORN meeting to me.
faol on May 7, 2009 at 1:15 PM
Lo, there do I see my Father..
Lo, there do I see my Mother
And my Sisters and my Brothers..
Lo, there do I see the line
Of my people back to the beginning..
Thay do bid me to take my place among them..
In the Halls of Valhalla,
Where the Brave may live forever.
Oldnuke on May 7, 2009 at 1:16 PM
Best comment on the Youtube page:
“Look, it’s Code Stink.”
Scrappy on May 7, 2009 at 1:24 PM
You say so well what I was thinking. Palestine produces nothing in spite of the exhorbitant money poured into it, It and its supporters export only destruction and mayhem.
Somehow, given the myriad product taken off the shelves, the irony of the fruitfulness of Israeli exports is lost on these anarchists.
BTW Why are the shirts printed in English?
onlineanalyst on May 7, 2009 at 1:29 PM
Thank you. A suitable Old Scandinavian liturgy for those who stand up for the West. The West = our fading, but previously successful, society; and the Constitution.
NaCly dog on May 7, 2009 at 1:31 PM
This summarizes pretty well Palestinians (and Muslims in general.) They accuse Israel of being everything they are themselves.
Grafted on May 7, 2009 at 1:34 PM
Hamas green…nice touch. Idiots!
WashJeff on May 7, 2009 at 1:40 PM
Not to expect these people to have any knowledge of economics, but if they steal Israeli products from French businesses, wouldn’t their short-term accomplishment be to … insure more Israeli products are imported to replace the ones they stole? Maybe I don’t understand the video, but that would seem to be the outcome of this. If the French businesses eventually decided that it would be easier to not have Israeli products than to, you know, arrest thieves, then maybe this will have the intended consequence, but right now they’re just taking money from the French and giving it to themselves and to their alleged enemy, Israel. Not exactly a pro-Palestinian thing to do, but I suppose it’s a very French thing to do….
By the way, the little tune they have sounds like it should be whistled by a fascist or an assassin (a la Kill Bill). It sounds foreboding and oppressive.
calbear on May 7, 2009 at 1:41 PM
Re Update. Is that THE Bethany from that awesome video blog a few years ago? If it is, we miss you. Well, I do anyway…
shooten on May 7, 2009 at 1:43 PM
When they are successful in boycotting Israeli goods in France, they will find they have nothing to eat except bread, cheese, sugarbeets and wine.
Israel is the foodbasket of Europe and has become so on land that previously could produce nothing. What the prophet Isaiah foretold 700 years before Christ has come to pass:
Christian Conservative on May 7, 2009 at 1:48 PM
Every time I saw one of these little Nazis talking into the camera, I pictured a strong hand holding a 9mm Glock up to their temple and a loud voice speaking harshly to them, followed by the swinging of clubs and the denting of heads.
Jaibones on May 7, 2009 at 1:49 PM
ding ding, we have a winner.
This proves to me that the french are complete wimps. The whole group should have been arrested.
sonofdy on May 7, 2009 at 1:49 PM
The State Department probably funded them. Hillary isn’t good with translation.
Jaibones on May 7, 2009 at 1:50 PM
They look pretty organized. Did ACORN sponsor this?
Dr.Cwac.Cwac on May 7, 2009 at 1:52 PM
Come to Chicago on July 4th. We need 2 million angry voices for freedom, speaking truth to the leftist punks and ggangsters who run this effed up city, the political home of our idiot Precedent.
Jaibones on May 7, 2009 at 1:53 PM
Leftovers from Dear Leader’s Dearbonistan campaign office.
/sarc
Dr.Cwac.Cwac on May 7, 2009 at 1:59 PM
Big Thumbs Up from the pit of Hell,
Aldolph Hitler
izoneguy on May 7, 2009 at 2:15 PM
They took the Obama classes on community organizing….
For only $19.95 they got Obama’s DVD and a free copy
of “Rules for Radicals”.
izoneguy on May 7, 2009 at 2:17 PM
Do you really think Barrack Hussein Obama will deport Muslims? Sooner white males.
Ernest on May 7, 2009 at 2:28 PM
Two groups of people I hate. French and Muslims.
I hope they both end up rotting in their own little hell…
Tim Burton on May 7, 2009 at 2:29 PM
These mooslim clowns are only using the hatred of jews that has always existed in Europe.
billypaintbrush on May 7, 2009 at 2:32 PM
Is it true that ACORN will be issuing brown shirts for their employees in 2010? Obama’s neighborhood watch?
Ernest on May 7, 2009 at 2:33 PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_law_on_secularity_and_conspicuous_religious_symbols_in_schools
Dr Evil on May 7, 2009 at 2:33 PM
Two groups of people I hate. French and Muslims.
Thats it! Frogistan.
faol on May 7, 2009 at 2:34 PM
I recall reading that in WWII, France was the only occupied territory in which the Germans didn’t have to install a Gauleiter to oversee the rounding up of the Jews.
The French were only too happy to take up that responsibility themselves.
I don’t know what it is with the French when it comes to Jews, but it seems to be built into their DNA.
Spurius Ligustinus on May 7, 2009 at 2:41 PM
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