On Wednesday, November 8, Yaël Braun-Pivet gave free rein to her emotions, in the meeting room at Assemblée Nationale. The president of the Assemblée had come to greet three families of French hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. She stressed that what had happened in Israel on October 7 was, in her eyes, a "crime against humanity."
Next to her, Nadine Morano, a right-wing member of the European Parliament (Les Républicains, LR) who accompanied Braun-Pivet to Israel at the end of October, was in tears. Braun-Pivet was also keen to make it clear to the 30 or so lawmakers present – from President Emmanuel Macron's camp, as well as LR, the Parti Socialiste (PS) and the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) – that the call for a mass march against anti-Semitism on November 12 is not a "political" initiative but a "civic and citizen" one. Braun-Pivet and Sénat President Gérard Larcher (LR) announced plans for the march the day before, in an open letter in Le Figaro.
Braun-Pivet, who regularly receives anti-Semitic insults and threats, hammered home this point on TF1's 8 pm news, alongside Larcher, on Wednesday. This march "is not a political gathering" and "we haven't invited any party, just citizens," she said, insisting: "We won't be marching alongside the RN." The procession from Invalides to the Palais du Luxembourg will be led by "republican" politicians, she added, without specifying who is or isn't a republican: "Let's not let the message we convey be sullied (...) with unproductive polemics."
"Gathering together does not mean erasing one's differences," added Larcher, who believes that a "republican cordon" needs to be extended "against anti-Semitism." The plea from the leaders of both chambers of Parliament is aimed at finding an unlikely consensus within a political world that is hesitant, or torn, in the face of their initiative.
Some members of the governing coalition and the left have set conditions for their presence on Sunday, troubled by the attitude of Marine Le Pen, the leader of the RN party in the Assemblée. On Wednesday, Le Pen called on "all [her] voters" to join the march after confirming her presence and that of her loyal supporter and president of the far-right party, Jordan Bardella.
"The RN has no place in this demonstration," said Olivier Véran, the government spokesman, on Wednesday, as he left the Council of Ministers. Véran pointed out that it is impossible for "good anti-Semitism and bad anti-Semitism" to coexist. This was an allusion to Bardella's refusal on Sunday to call Jean-Marie Le Pen an anti-Semite, despite the many remarks that have earned the co-founder of the Front National (RN's predecessor) convictions.
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