The news director of the state—run radio network Radio France Internationale (RFI) resigned on Monday after he was accused of making anti—Semitic and anti—Zionist statements in the promotion of his new book on Israel's separation fence.

Alain Menargues, speaking last week on Radio Courtoisie, an extreme right—wing Catholic radio station, said, "I was very shocked by the wall. Read Leviticus in the Torah. What is it about? Separation between pure and impure. To pray, a Jew must be pure and whatever comes in the way of this purity must be separated. Where was the first ghetto? It was in Venice. And who built it? It was the Jews themselves in order to be separated from the rest. After that, Europe put them in ghettos," he said.

Jerusalem Post 

While Dan Rather did not utter any bigoted remarks he still has something in common with his counterpart at the French run radio network.   Both are in charge of the news, both persistently and publicly reported falsehoods.  And both are still working for their respective news organizations.  Yes, Monsieur  Memargues resigned his position but he will soon be working at the station in some other capacity.
 
Interestingly, Menargues totally inverted the facts.  The Jews were first herded into special neighborhoods, later called ghettos, by Catholic clergy in Venice,  to separate them from the local populace while squeezing  Jews financially and religiously.  This proved so popular with the Catholic religious personnel that the concept soon spread.
 
But hey, why should facts get in the way of truth?

Ethel C. Fenig  10 22 04                                           
 
 
Italy and the Jews — Timeline
 
1516 — Establishment of ghetto (foundry) in Venice as a place of confinement for Jews, whose goal is to gain maximum economic advantage from the Jews' presence (including taxes), while ensuring minimal social contact with population. Generalization of term to include all enclosed quarters of Jews in Europe