French citizens are being urged to march in the streets of Paris and other cities on Sunday to denounce the rise in anti-Semitic acts following the renewed conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The demonstration was supposed to unite the nation, but caused political controversy. The prime minister, whose Jewish father was deported, will march in the front row of a rally in Paris, but President Emmanuel Macron, who condemned the “unbearable resurgence of unleashed anti-Semitism” on Saturday night, said he would be with the prime minister. participants “with an opinion”.

In a “Letter to the French” published in Le Parisien on Saturday night, President Emmanuel Macron, whose announced absence from the rally drew much criticism, including from politicians and figures in the Jewish community, expressed hope that the march, an initiative of National Assembly President Yael Braun- Piwet and the President of the Senate, Gérard Larchet, will send a signal of “unity”.

“The unity of the French”

“The France that our Jewish fellow citizens fear is not France,” the head of state wrote, condemning “the intolerable flourishing of unleashed anti-Semitism.”

Almost 1,160 anti-Semitic acts have been recorded in France since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, triple the number of such incidents registered in the whole of 2022, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanen told the Senate on Wednesday. , Reuters notes. Tensions have risen in France, home to the largest Jewish and Muslim communities in Europe.

Reiterating his promise to return anti-Semitism “to the only place it belongs: in the courts and behind bars,” citing “hundreds of arrests (…) carried out” and “dozens of open trials” in recent weeks, Emmanuel Macron said he wanted “unity of the French”.

“The fight against anti-Semitism should never divide us and should not lead to the enmity of some of our compatriots against others. Whether it is religious, social, identity or racial, anti-Semitism is always as Emile Zola described it: hateful,” Macron wrote, urging France to unite “by its values ​​and its universalism.”

“Unthinkable picture” a few years ago

However, the past week has been riddled with controversy, starting with a dispute fueled by his own government over the legitimacy of the presence of the far-right National Association (RN) at the procession due to the openly anti-Semitic past of its founders. , Jean-Marie Le Pen and former collaborators of Nazi Germany and the Waffen SS. Currently, the leading representative of the formation is Marine Le Pen, daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen.

France Insoumise (LFI, far left), whose leaders such as Jean-Luc Mélenchon have made a series of provocative statements since the renewed conflict in Gaza, including refusing to label Hamas a “terrorist movement”, justified their absence from the march because of the presence of the far right.

Other left-wing parties united with the LFI in parliament announced that they would take part in this “civic march for the republic and against anti-Semitism, for human rights in France and for the nation”, as they did on Saturday, during another march with calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and the shooting of Palestinian civilians, Saturday’s rally in Paris drew more than 16,000 people, according to police.

Around 3,000 police officers are now mobilized to secure the route of the march from Paris, which will start from the House of the Invalides at 15:00 local time (16:00 Romanian time), pass in front of the National Assembly and end 3.5 kilometers further, near the Senate.

National Assembly President Yael Braun-Pivet and Senate President Gérard Larchet called for “universal mobilization” to march against the resurgence of anti-Semitism. They led the march under a banner with the inscription “For the Republic against anti-Semitism.”

According to the BBC, Marine Le Pen, a three-time presidential candidate for the RN (the party formerly known as Front National), was among the first to announce she would join the march, along with party president Jordan Bardella. . Jean-Luc Mélenchon quickly announced that his party would not be attending because the event was “a rally for unconditional supporters of the (Gaza) massacre.

A few years ago, the idea that a far-right party would take part in a march against anti-Semitism, while the far left would not, would have been “unthinkable”, notes The Times of Israel.

French President Emmanuel Macron said that he will participate in the march “with an opinion”. “I will be there with my heart and my thoughts,” Macron said in a letter sent on Saturday evening.

Rallies are also planned in other cities, notably in response to a call by the Association of French Mayors.

Prime Minister Elizabeth Bourne warned in a tweet on Sunday morning that there was “no room for posturing” at the events, targeting both the radical left from La France Insoumise, whose “absence speaks for itself”, and the far right, represented by the National Association. , whose “presence deceives no one.”

The prime minister, whose Jewish father was deported, will march in the front row of the procession from Paris in a front group with people who “represent” the Republic, such as former presidents Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy and former heads of government, but “without a party leader “. It is also expected that about 25 ministers will march on Sunday in Paris and about ten in the provinces, according to the Matignon Palace, writes AFP.

Political struggle

But this march in Paris and the demonstrations organized in other cities are far from reflecting the national unity that Emmanuel Macron wants. Their preparation caused a fierce political struggle due to the presence of the National Union (RN) and another far-right party, Reconquête, at the march. The participation of RN Marine Le Pen, “a political party created by the heirs of Vichy”, is “not unity, but obscenity”, government spokesman Olivier Veran told Le Parisien. The leader of the RN deputies, Marine Le Pen, believes that the march should “unite” the French around the rejection of both anti-Semitism and “Islamic fundamentalism, which is a totalitarian ideology.”

As for Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s France insoumise (Radical Left), which has been accused of ambiguity on the issue of anti-Semitism even as it boycotts a demonstration in Paris because of the presence of the RN, some of its followers are expected to rally on Sunday at other initiatives, in the capital or in province

Eric Ciotti, president of the right-wing Republicans party, asked Emmanuel Macron to “explain the reasons” why he decided not to come on Sunday, saying a two-way approach was “definitely no longer possible”.

Left parties Europe Ecologie-Les Verts, PS and PCF, as well as human rights associations and youth organizations will march under the common slogan “against anti-Semitism and all those who show hatred and racism” in the “republican border”. “against the extreme right. “We have to demonstrate that we are there (and) that we are not giving up our place,” explained to France Inter the head of the Greens, Marine Tondelier, who “does not want (her) presence to be perceived as an endorsement of the legitimacy of the RN on marches”.

The action is expected to be held in silence. There are no speeches during the procession.

Numerous religious representatives will also be present, but few Muslims are expected. (Source: News.ro)