Paris, France: French Jewish Group Sues YouTube
August 14, 2008
A French Jewish group is suing the YouTube video-sharing website over a clip showing a host of Jewish public figures to the soundtrack of a pre-war antisemitic song. The video, posted on the US YouTube site and its French rival Dailymotion, shows a slide show of more than 150 French politicians, TV stars, journalists, writers, philosophers, actors, singers and comedians. It is set to the sound of a song recorded before World War II, called "Rebecca's wedding," which describes the guests at a Jewish wedding as dirty, rude and dishonest.
Sammy Ghozlan, President of BVCA (Bureau National de Vigilance Contre l’Antisémitisme) called for the French government to monitor websites like YouTube more stringently since antisemitic videos appear regularly. The websites should be obliged to check the content prior to featuring it online. Dailymotion replied that there is no obligation to monitor online content, it merely is required to inhibit posts when it is informed about illegal contents.
Sources: Zeit.de, 08-14-2008; ynetnews.com, 08-15-2008; ejpress.org, 08-17-2008
