Some 20,000 people, according to the rally's organizers, gathered from 3pm on Sunday, October 6, at the Unesco headquarters in Paris, to call for the release of the hostages still being held in Gaza, and to affirm their solidarity with the state and people of Israel. One year after Hamas's terrorist attack on October 7, 2023, "today we experienced a moment of unity and emotion, a moment we needed," said Sandra Ifrah, spokeswoman for Women United for Peace, one of the rally's organizing associations, which was set up 48 hours after the massacre. She described the initiative as "unprecedented."

Under the auspices of the French branch of the Jewish National Fund, the Keren Kayemeth LeIsraël (KKL, whose goal is to raise funds for land, water and forestry projects in Israel), some 50 Jewish organizations and institutions responded to the call to demonstrate, under the hashtag #jesuisdebout ("I stand"), "whatever their opinions and differences," insisted Ifrah.

On its website, the KKL had called on participants to pay tribute to "the victims of that fateful day, that 'Holocaust day,' when Islamist barbarity massacred, murdered, raped, burned men, women and children because they were Jews," to denounce "the unleashing of anti-Semitic hatred throughout the world, and particularly in our country," and to express "our solidarity with the people and State of Israel in the existential war they have been waging for a year against their enemies on seven fronts at once."

It was for all these reasons that Luz and Stéphane (those we spoke to in the crowd declined to give their surnames), aged 54 and 55, came to the rally: "First, for the hostages," and "because Israel is a vigil, a small democracy surrounded by authoritarian regimes and theocracies, fighting for its survival, but also for us, because we have chosen our side." Luz wore a French flag tied around her shoulders, with a message stuck on top of an embroidered Star of David: "Anti-Semitism is not just a matter for Jews." Stéphane carried a huge Israeli flag. She is not Jewish. He is a "secular Jew."

"A mixed couple" as they put it, who came without their children. They are "much more moderate" in their convictions, apparently, and while they hadn't hesitated to take part in the march against anti-Semitism in November 2023, they were too "horrified" by the war in Gaza to respond to the #jesuisdebout call to rally in support of Israel. "We're here, but that doesn't mean we're endorsing Netanyahu's policies, that's got nothing to do with it," said Luz. "In any case, whatever the watchword – the fight against anti-Semitism or support for Israel – for a long time now, only Jews have taken to the streets in support of Jews," said Franck, a 49-year-old Parisian lawyer, with resignation.

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