One year after the terrorist attacks by Hamas in Israel, a moving ceremony attended by some 4,000 people paid tribute to the victims, on the evening of Monday, October 7, at the Dôme de Paris. The Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF) invited a number of leading political figures to attend and make speeches.
There were also speeches by celebrities (comedian Sophia Aram, philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy, presenter Arthur) and readings by artists (Sandrine Kiberlain, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Yvan Attal, Stéphane Freiss, Joann Sfar) of testimonies by survivors or relatives of the victims, as well as dance, music and songs sung by the audience. The faces of the 48 French-Israeli victims appeared on stage, on panels carried by as many people, forming a poignant tableau.
France, marked by an upsurge in anti-Semitic acts over the past year, will continue "to fight anti-Semitism by all means," promised Prime Minister Michel Barnier, accompanied by Justice Minister Didier Migaud and Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau. "We will let nothing pass," he added. With two French-Israeli hostages still held in Gaza, Barnier reiterated that "France never abandons its children."
"You can count on the president of the Republic [Emmanuel Macron], on the prime minister (...), on all the members of the government, to protect our compatriots of the Jewish faith," he insisted, triggering boos from part of the audience at the mention of the president.
Emmanuel Macron's call for a halt to arms deliveries to Israel for fighting in Gaza, speaking to France Inter radio on Saturday, provoked dismay and disappointment among part of France's Jewish community. "The minimum, just a few days before this sad anniversary, would have been to respect Jews and the hostages," said Delphine, one of the attendees at the ceremony. "It's either flippancy or cynicism on his part."
On stage, Barnier sought to reassure his audience, repeating that "Israel's security is not and never will be negotiable." He added that Israel "is today in a situation of legitimate self-defense." "Weapons!" the audience demanded, in response to the prime minister. He received a standing ovation from the audience.
Former president Nicolas Sarkozy, former prime ministers Manuel Valls and Gabriel Attal, President of the Assemblée Nationale Yaël Braun-Pivet, all seated in the front row, were also cheered. Former Socialist president François Hollande, elected to Parliament this year as part of an alliance with the radical left La France Insoumise (LFI) party, was copiously jeered. Jean-Luc Mélenchon's party, which sought to downplay the role of Hamas in the October 7 massacres, "sees resistance fighters where the universal conscience recognizes terrorists," slammed Yonathan Arfi, the head of the CRIF. "That LFI still finds allies on the republican left is an outrage, a betrayal," he added.
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