Build a nation, he says since Covid. Build a nation, he repeated after the summer, absolute mantra, “heart” of his second five-year term. And at a time when the country, stunned by the Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel, is close to falling into uncontrollable silence. “I thought it was my duty to speak to you,” Jacques Chirac said on television on the evening of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. Emmanuel Macron was slow to “speak”, wanting to let the time of emotion and condemnation pass, then the time of support from the international community.
This Thursday, the president appeared haunted by the threats weighing on France. Beyond the empathy that he was able to express towards Israel, beyond the emotion born from the death of the greatest number of French people in an attack since that of Nice in 2016 (like he himself recalled it), he used the word “hate” almost as often as that of “unity”. He therefore increased the warnings, which correspond to the extent of the threats weighing.
“Let us not carry out ideological adventures at home by projection. Let us not add, by illusion or calculation, national fractures to international fractures”: Emmanuel Macron’s fears appear so well founded in the light of the events of recent days . Because French society is no longer the same. As incomprehensible as it may seem, attacks against Jews cause an increase in anti-Semitism.
In the ten days following the murderous madness of Mohamed Merah in 2012, 90 anti-Semitic acts were recorded. Since Saturday, “more than a hundred anti-Semitic acts”, ranging from tags to insults against the Jewish community, were committed in France, indicated Gérald Darmanin. Who added that three people were subject to immediate withdrawal of their residence permit and expulsion from French territory.
Because the political landscape is no longer the same. The presidential initiative to invite party leaders was welcome, as the public debate became crazy, made hysterical by the attitude of La France insoumise refusing to call a spade a spade. The moment marks a turning point, which sees Jean-Luc Mélenchon competing with Marine Le Pen for the role of the devil of the Republic – even managing, it must be admitted, to steal this unenviable position from her.
Pro-Palestine demonstrations, Tuesday in Marseille, Thursday in Paris, are taking place – they are now systematically banned and therefore appear as a challenge to State authority at the same time as a blow to national cohesion. “The first criminals are them, those who support the policy of the State of Israel,” quietly commented the Bouches-du-Rhône CGT leader during a pro-Palestine demonstration in Marseille, while in the capital , we heard “Israel murderer”.
What will be the scope of the reminder launched on television by Emmanuel Macron? “Those who confuse the Palestinian cause and the justification for terrorism are committing a moral, political and strategic mistake.” The president spoke of “this shield of unity which will protect us” and one was entitled to wonder whether this was a self-fulfilling prophecy or wishful thinking.