Closed against other groups of demonstrators, Eliav raises his voice to be heard. “I’m here to support my family and my friends in Israel, and my people. I couldn’t see myself not coming,” confides the young man, trying to drown out the noise of the slogans and applause. At the start of the evening, thousands of people gathered at Place Victor Hugo, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, at the call of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (Crif), in order to support the Israeli people after the attacks perpetrated by Hamas on October 7. Eliav is on the lookout: at the slightest cry, he raises his head and quickly analyzes where the sounds are coming from. “We debated for half an hour before coming. You never know what could happen: when the conflict intensifies there, anti-Semitic acts explode here,” he whispers. In his neighborhood in the north of Paris, the young man has long since given up wearing a kippah every time he goes to the synagogue: “I have already been called a dirty Jew, so I gave up. Just that weekend, my brother-in-law was already attacked by onlookers who shouted at him ‘Long live Palestine, we will win'”.
Around his neck this evening, Eliav proudly wears a pendant in the shape of a menorah, the seven-branched candlestick symbol of the Jewish religion. “But how many times has my mother asked me to tuck it under my t-shirt? Being vigilant about my religion is part of my daily life,” he says. Next to him, his friend Marie listens to this testimony while shaking her head, disappointed. Also of Jewish faith, the young woman admits not having gone to the synagogue this Sunday – even though it is a Jewish holiday: “I felt deeply bad about the videos I saw on the Internet. And, honestly, I I was afraid.” Before joining the procession, she says she stopped several police officers along the Parisian avenues to ask them for details of the security system put in place to protect the demonstrators.
In the crowd, many groups of friends or families told L’Express of the same feeling of anguish. At 20 years old, Salomé says she is “deeply shocked” by the comments read on social networks under press articles or videos evoking the assassination of more than 800 Israelis by Hamas, on the day of October 7: “There are those who deny the facts, those who justify them, those who rejoice at these deaths. And then the insults, from the most classic to the most violent, I’ll let you imagine.” On a daily basis, the young girl claims not to wear any distinctive signs, and “understands” her friends who prefer to take off their yarmulkes when leaving the synagogue. Moved, Josette listens to him with a sigh. The fifty-year-old hoped that the younger generation would not have to endure this type of hatred. “But anti-Semitism is very present in France, and at the slightest opportunity, we are reminded that we are Jews, and for some, ‘dirty Jews’. On French soil, we have our identity to defend, and This is also why we are here this evening,” she insists.
More than 700 reports in Pharos
Earlier in the day, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said “that around twenty anti-Semitic acts” had been recorded in France since Saturday’s attack, ranging from “threatening remarks” against Jews and Israel to deployment of banners supporting the Palestinians – no less than ten people have already been arrested. The online reporting platform Pharos has also received “more than 700 reports” of comments glorifying terrorism or inciting racial hatred on the Internet, and 44 of them have already been brought to justice.
In Paris, incidents were noted in front of a synagogue in the 16th arrondissement. In the 7th arrondissement, people were arrested for “apology of terrorism and racist insults”, according to a police source at AFP. In Sucy-en-Brie, in Val-de-Marne, tags were covered on the walls of the RER station on Sunday, while threatening inscriptions against Israel were also noted in Epinay-sous-Sénart, in Essonne. This weekend, Gérald Darmanin asked the prefects to strengthen the security of Israeli community places, with a visible presence of law enforcement and reinforcement of municipal police officers and soldiers from Operation Sentinel.
“These measures reassure me, obviously. But I don’t know if they will be enough: I went to the synagogue in Paris on Saturday evening, and no additional security was in place,” comments Thomas. Before the start of the demonstration, the thirty-year-old recalled having himself been the victim of anti-Semitic insults recently, in front of his synagogue. “I fear that the events of the weekend and what will happen in the coming days will only accentuate this anti-Semitism. But that will not stop me, I will continue to go to the synagogue. And I hope that every act will be condemned, in particular by the entire political class,” he confides. The thirty-year-old does not hide his anger towards La France Insoumise (LFI), whose elected officials spoke of “an armed offensive by Palestinian forces”, carried out “in a context of intensification of the Israeli occupation policy” . Jean-Luc Mélenchon even estimated that “violence only produces and reproduces itself”. “It’s extremely serious,” reacts Thomas. “I don’t understand how we can see civilians being massacred and then be incapable of condemning terrorism,” he gets annoyed. A little further on, a small group chants a slogan. “Mélenchon, in prison,” chant the demonstrators.
Dona, Lisa, Nina and Florence, who came among cousins to support the demonstration, are just as categorical. “From Mélenchon, I expected nothing else. But it’s a shame, there are no other words. He should be deprived of his eligibility,” exasperates Nina, encouraged by his cousins. But the mother does not wish to discuss LFI’s comments more widely. “If I am here, it is above all to support my people and democracy, and to defend our values in the face of barbarism. That’s called humanity,” she concludes. Neither the anxiety of being insulted, nor the concern of his children – who asked him not to go in the procession, for fear of possible anti-Semitic acts – will have got the better of his determination.