the Elysée promises a major speech to condemn anti-Semitism, this “universal cancer”

The ceremony chaired by Emmanuel Macron, in tribute to the 42 French people killed during the Hamas attack in Israel on October 7, is scheduled to begin at 11:45 a.m. at Les Invalides.

A “republican ceremony“: far from the controversies, the Elysée wants to gain height. Four months, to the day, after the terrorist attacks perpetrated by Hamas in Israel, France pays a national tribute to its victims of October 7. With 42 fellow citizens or Franco-Israelis killed, three still missing and presumed hostages, four hostages released and six injured, this is the heaviest death toll on the French side since the Nice attack on July 14, 2016 (86 dead and more than 400 injured).

In the courtyard of the Invalides, 55 portraits and 55 families – some of whom come directly from Israel in a specially chartered plane – will be greeted by Emmanuel Macron in a ceremony which promises to be symbolic in more than one way. And in particular, promises the Elysée, to make a major speech to condemn anti-Semitism. Emmanuel Macron, in front of the photos and the names of the victims, will remind us that anti-Semitism remains “a universal cancer“, Franceinfo learned.

“On this fight, the president does not have much to prove”

The Elysée wants to place this tribute in line with those paid to Captain Dreyfus, at the commemorations of the Vel d’Hiv roundup, before the Pantheonization, in two weeks, of Missak Manouchian, survivor of the Armenian genocide who took refuge in France and great resistance fighter at the head of one of the most active armed groups against the Nazis.

“Where anti-Semitism flourishes, all forms of hatred flourish with it“, thus philosophizes an advisor to the Elysée, at the risk of Emmanuel Macron being once again criticized for not having gone to the march against anti-Semitism on November 12. “On this fight, the president has little to prove“, sweeps away those around him, who believe that this time it is a tribute to the Republic. A way of not making it a political event.

“Republican protocol”

While several families of French victims of Hamas attacks wrote to Emmanuel Macron to ask him “that any presence of La France insoumise be prohibited“during the ceremony of February 7, on January 23, Mathilde Panot, the president of the La France insoumise group at the National Assembly, announced that she would be present on February 7. She requested that “a tribute to all the French victims of this war in the Middle East“.”Inviting them is republican protocol“, retorts the Elysée, which promises that Emmanuel Macron’s speech will be very clear… to the point of making some people think.

The tribute, which will begin at 11:45 a.m., will open with the Kaddish prayer for the dead, followed by a speech from the Head of State, the bell ringing To the Dead, a minute of silence and the Marseillaise. France has the largest Jewish community in Europe, with around 500,000 people, and nearly 100,000 nationals living in Israel, often having dual nationality.