Emmanuel Macron chaired a national tribute to the French victims of the Hamas attack in Israel, in the presence of families and representatives of the political class.
“There are 68 million of us, minus 42 broke Jews, 68 million, including six injured lives.” A national tribute was paid this Wednesday, February 7 to the French and Franco-Israeli victims of the attack perpetrated by Hamas exactly four months ago, on October 7. In the courtyard of the Hôtel des Invalides, Emmanuel Macron gave a speech in memory of the 42 French nationals who died, the six who were injured, the four former Hamas hostages released and the three people still missing and “presumed hostages” . “We are not just 68 million today, we are much more. A people loving freedom, fraternity, dignity. A people who will never forget them” declared the Head of State during the Republican ceremony placed “under the universal sign of the fight against anti-Semitism and through it (…) all forms of hatred, racism and oppression towards minorities”.
The tribute was paid in the presence of portraits of the victims gathered on the square in front of Les Invalides, families of the storms, personalities and politicians. In Israel, the ceremony was broadcast on a screen at the “Hostage Square” in Tel Aviv. President Issac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who were invited, were unable to travel to France.
The video tribute
The tribute began at 11:45 a.m. (10:45 a.m. GMT) with a Jewish Kaddish prayer for the dead, followed by a speech by the head of state, the bell ringing “To the Dead”, a minute of silence and the Marseillaise . At the start of the ceremony, the portraits of the victims, bearing only the first name and age of the person, were transported to the courtyard of the Invalides on Ravel’s Kaddish. With these portraits, “France will make tribute to his children,” insisted the Elysée.
Families and politics… 1,000 guests invited
The tribute to the French victims was held in front of 1,000 people, including 150 representatives of the victims’ families. Most of them came from Israel on a special flight chartered for the occasion. The ceremony being national and republican, the Head of State, the First Lady and members of the government were present. The presidents of the National Assembly and the Senate, Yaël Braun-Pivet and Gérard Larcher, as well as all the leaders of political parties were also invited as required by the protocol in force since 1989. The elected representatives of France Insoumise had warned of their presence and went to the tribute, despite the reluctance of the victims’ families. The Elysée, which had no other choice than to invite all the political forces, had clarified to LFR that “it is up to the said parties to decide, in conscience, what is just and elegant”.
The LFI elected officials were welcomed to the boos of passers-by gathered in front of the Hôtel des Invalides. In the crowd, some chanted towards the elected representatives of the radical left “LFI, Hamas says thank you”. Before the ceremony, a family group had sent a letter to Emmanuel Macron to ask that the presence of France Insoumise, whose elected officials have always refused to qualify the Hamas attack as a terrorist act, be “banned”. “In the name of what can I be denied the right to emotion and sorrow?” replied LFI coordinator Manuel Bompard. The party, however, denounces a “double standard” with Gaza, where more than 27,500 people have been killed since the start of the Israeli offensive, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health, including at least two French children. The Elysée announced that a “memorial time” was planned for them in a second phase.