Arthur Dénouveaux, Bataclan survivor and president of the victims’ association Life for Paris, spoke on franceinfo this Friday.
Hamas terrorist attack in Israel “is a great test” for survivors of the attacks of November 13, 2015 in France who are “necessarily” Right now “in an acute protection phase”declared Friday October 13 on franceinfo Arthur Dénouveaux, Bataclan survivor and president of the victims association Life for Paris.
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During his televised intervention on Thursday October 12, Emmanuel Macron drew a parallel between the attacks which have affected Israel since Saturday and those which devastated France in 2015. “We, French, we know in our flesh what this pain is”declared the head of state. “These are attacks which destabilize a country, which destabilize a society and which question the ability to live together in the future”, explained the essayist Arthur Dénouveaux. According to him, “the question of justice is central” for Israelis. In France, “we were able to convince ourselves that we had a judicial democracy that knew how to deal with barbarism”he said.
franceinfo: Does the parallel with the attacks of November 13, 2015 seem relevant to you?
Arthur Dénouveaux: These are obviously terrorist attacks. The President of the Republic does well to point this out. Then, inevitably, these are attacks which destabilize a country, which destabilize a society and which question the ability to live together in the future. This is what we felt in 2015. I have the impression that France did well, but it is a real question that opens up for Israel. When you are attacked like that, in your foundations, when it is indiscriminate and of incredible violence, you inevitably wonder about the response to be given. It raises questions about the democracy that you will be tomorrow. The parallel is extremely valid.
Emmanuel Macron has called for unity several times. Is this a sign of feverishness?
I do not think so. I think it is rather a reminder that our unity allowed us to overcome 2015, to overcome the attacks of 2016 and all those that followed without there being any fracture and without there being the slightest risk of civil war. We never got close to this stage. It is necessary to remember it all the same. But we must maintain confidence in the process and what is happening with us.
We talked on television sets about a September 11 or a November 13. Were these words hard to hear for you, the survivors of the November 13 attacks?
It’s true. November 13 will long serve as a standard in our society. It is an attack which plunges us into the most absolute fear. For us, obviously, it’s a reminder that we could do without. On the other hand, I see something positive in it. This means that there has not been a more shocking attack since.
How have the survivors of the attacks in France lived in recent days?
It’s a big test. Many retreat into a shell of no longer having social networks and no longer connecting too much to the media. The difficulty with post-traumatic stress is obviously that events that are similar to those we have experienced immediately touch on our fragilities. We are very careful about this. It’s still incredibly violent. The Israeli response is also very violent and violence is something that victims of terrorism find very difficult to deal with. We are in an acute protection phase, obviously.
After the attacks of November 13, there was a trial. This step was obviously important for the victims in Paris. Will it also be necessary for the Israeli victims?
The question of justice is central. If we succeeded after November 13 in rebuilding society, it is because we were able to convince ourselves that we had a judicial democracy that knew how to deal with barbarism. I think it’s important both for the Israeli victims, but also for Israeli society as a whole, to be able to hear the individual stories, to obviously be able to understand what happened in detail, but also to be able to question the terrorists and not necessarily the leaders.
When we had them in the box, we could ask them extremely simple questions. “But why did you do that?” They begin by stating their demands. But when you tell them: “All right, that’s the claim. But you got up that morning, you put on an explosive belt. Why? What did these people do to you?”. You see that they have nothing to answer.
“What was striking at the trial was that Daesh was not at all able to use it for its propaganda because the emptiness of terrorist slogans was shown. I hope it would be the same in Israel,”
Arthur Dénouveaux,at franceinfo
More generally, I repeat the words of the association’s lawyer at the trial: “Justice is overcoming hatred”. This is still what we will have to succeed in achieving peace. I hear a lot about peace and it seems to me to be an ease. There are many steps before. Justice is probably one of them.