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Marylou Barry is a journalist, poet and author of children's books. Visit her new blog, Marylou's America, at marylousamerica.wordpress.com.
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By Marylou Barry
December 6, 2006
It was odd, the letter sent out recently to numerous patrons by Club Med, one of the world's leading vacation resort corporations.
"Dear patrons," the letter read, "We would like to announce that between December 16 and December 23 we have the privilege to host in our Menuires ski resort in France an important group of Israeli citizens. Because your vacation is personal, you are able to choose an alternative ski resort at no extra charge."
What?
"In the letter, the company offered their patrons a list of seven ski resorts for those who do not wish to share spend their vacation with skiers from Israel," summarized reporter Itamar Eichner on November 29. "The club offers ski resorts such as Tigres, Serre-Chevalier, Cervinia, Peisey-Vallandry, Chamonix, and Meribal Aspen Park. The letter, which reached the hands of CICAD, a Jewish organization in Geneva who fights anti-Semitism and discrimination, angered them and prompted their quick appeal to the company to get a clarification. Sources within the Jewish community in Switzerland said that the letter smells of anti-Semitism."
"This is a service we provide so there will be no misunderstandings that there are only Israelis at the resort," Club Med Israel CEO Ze'ev Dahan explained, "and the vacationer, whose son doesn't speak any Hebrew, wouldn't understand anything. We do this with everyone. Club Med loves Israelis."
What again?
In my own somewhat limited holiday time at ski resorts, I recall most of it was spent laughing with my friends, shopping for souvenirs, falling down bunny slopes, and seeking anaesthesia in the comfort of the wideview cocktail lounge. Understanding conversations of people I didn't even know would have been far down on the list. Had I been in a chatty mood, however, I certainly would have considered Israelis intriguing neighbors. I understand that, fortunately, many of them are bi- or multi-lingual.
So, if this ethnic warning letter is indeed a policy of Club Med, whatever were staff members thinking when they dreamed it up? What did they mean by "an important group of Israeli citizens"?
Aren't all Club Med patrons of equal importance to the corporation? If not, why not? Who wrote that offensively worded piece of garbage and how did that person get into the hospitality industry in the first place?
These answers are not supplied in Club Med's response.
This story, first published by Israel's ynet.com and later by israelnationalnews.com after Israel National Radio talk show host Tovia Singer publicized it on air, received 27 talkbacks at the YNET Web site.
"Strange, I was never told when there would be Arabs present during my vacation nor was I given a choice," one commenter wrote. "And by the way, as we are already at it, maybe the Dutch are too tall, the Swedes too blond, etc. Where does this nonsense end?" My question exactly.
Is somebody being a little too sensitive here? Is this a case of nouveau-European anti-Semitism as CICAD asserts? Or is it only an innocent but mangled PR attempt by some harried administrative assistant whose parents weren't even born when the last anti-Semitism decimated God's chosen people in the name of Western civilization? I have no idea.
Do we need to keep an eye on Club Med in the future? You bet we do.
Perhaps my sensibilities wouldn't have been so jarred by this story had not European anti-Semitism been increasing almost exponentially over the past several years. Maybe its significance would have missed me altogether had former -- and hopefully future -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not made his widely quoted November speech to the annual General Assembly of the United Jewish Communities in Los Angeles.
"It's 1938 and Iran is Germany," he warned, referencing the Persian president and his quest for nuclear weapons. "When someone tells you he is going to exterminate you, believe him -- and stop him."
Netanyahu neglected to mention that the United Nations, Ehud Olmert, and most other world leaders including George Bush are currently playing Neville Chamberlain to Ahmadinejad's early Hitler. He also failed to credit himself with the role of Winston Churchill for sounding the alarm, but no matter, for other commentators have already done so.
How refreshing to be reminded that we can often know what year it is if we only pay attention to the signs of the times
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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