A celebration of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah took place Thursday, December 7 at the Elysée.
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“To light a candle, you have to say a prayer, and this prayer took place in the heart of the Republic”, deplores Friday December 8 on franceinfo Iannis Roeder, member of the Council of Elders of Secularism and director of the Education Observatory at the Jean-Jaurès Foundation. He reacts to the video posted on social networks of the celebration of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah at the Elysée, Thursday evening, which is controversial.
“This scene surprised me, because we have known it since 1905, and in particular article 2 of the law of separation of Churches and State, the Republic does not recognize any religion”which means in particular, explains Iannis Roeder, “not to perform religious ceremonies in places of the Republic”. “We are not at the church, the synagogue or the mosque, we are in the very place which represents the Republic”insists the specialist.
A “political error”
“I think that the president of Crif is absolutely right to consider that this is an error”, estimates the member of the Council of Elders of Secularism. He reacts to the words of Yonathan Arfi this Friday morning, who speaks of this sequence as a “error”. And Iannis Roeder confirms: “It is a political error, and I believe that it is a conception of the Republic which is not the French conception. The Republic does not know Jews, Muslims, Catholics. It only knows citizens .” The specialist fears that it is “the door open to other celebrations: the Good Friday prayer at the Elysée, the breaking of the Ramadan fast at the Elysée”.
Also, Iannis Roeder is worried about the repercussions that this image could have on part of public opinion. “It can fuel fantasies that exist on social networks, about the supposed power of Jews, about collusion between the President of the Republic and the Jews”and revive “old conspiracy fantasies”he fears.