The head of state denounces “the unbearable resurgence of unbridled anti-Semitism”. He asks the country to remain “united behind its values, its universalism, united for itself, to carry out its project and work for peace and security for all in the Middle East”.
The French are called to march this Sunday in the streets of Paris and other cities to denounce the resurgence of anti-Semitic acts since the resumption of the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. President Emmanuel Macron, whose announced absence from this gathering sparked numerous criticisms, notably from political leaders and figures from the Jewish community, wished in a “Letter to the French” published in The Parisian that this initiative by the President of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, and the President of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, sends a signal of “unity”.
“A France where our Jewish fellow citizens are afraid is not France,” writes the head of state, denouncing “the unbearable resurgence of unbridled anti-Semitism.” Emmanuel Macron asks the country to remain “united behind its values, its universalism, united for itself, to carry out its project and work for peace and security for all in the Middle East”.
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Since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 1,159 anti-Semitic acts have been recorded in France, which corresponds to three times more events of this type recorded than in the whole of 2022, the Minister of Defense said on Wednesday. Interior, Gérald Darmanin, in the Senate.
Repeating his promise to bring anti-Semitism “to its only place: before the courts and behind bars”, in reference to the “hundreds of arrests (…) carried out” and the “dozens of legal proceedings open” in recent weeks, Emmanuel Macron says he wants “the unity of the French”. “The fight against anti-Semitism must never divide us or ever lead to pitting some of our compatriots against others,” continues the President of the Republic. “In our history, anti-Semitism has always been the prelude to other hatreds and racism.”
Controversies
The past week has, however, been punctuated by controversies, starting with that, maintained by his own government, on the legitimacy of the presence in the procession of the National Rally (extreme right), due to the openly anti-Semitic past of its founders, Jean- Marie Le Pen and former collaborators of Nazi Germany and Waffen SS.
La France insoumise (LFI, far left), of which certain leaders like Jean-Luc Mélenchon have multiplied the remarks considered provocative since the resumption of the conflict in Gaza, refusing in particular to qualify Hamas as a “terrorist movement”, justified its absence from the march by this presence of the extreme right.
3,000 police officers mobilized
The other left-wing parties, allied with LFI in Parliament, announced on the other hand that they would participate in this “civic march for the Republic and against anti-Semitism, for the France of Human Rights and for the Nation”, as they participated on Saturday in another march to call for a ceasefire in Gaza and the protection of Palestinian civilians, which according to the police brought together more than 16,000 people in Paris.
Some 3,000 police officers have been mobilized to secure the route of the Parisian procession, which will set off from Les Invalides at 3 p.m., pass in front of the National Assembly and end 3.5 kilometers further near the Senate.
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