A few thousand people demonstrated on Wednesday, November 13 in Paris at the call of associations, unions and left-wing political parties to denounce the holding in the evening in the French capital of the “Israel is Forever” gala with the remote participation of a far-right Israeli minister.
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For 260 euros, a few hundred guests attended the gala, organized each year by the Israel is Forever association, in an undisclosed location. Objective: to celebrate between people who share the same political convictions, in this case, an extremely right-wing and Zionist line.
Some announced participants caused controversy, starting with the organizer, the Franco-Israeli lawyer Nili Kupfer-Naouri, who assured on a television set that he “ there is no innocent civilian population in Gaza “. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, known for his unconditional support for the annexation of the Palestinian territories, was initially expected, but did not make the triphaving to speak by videoconference according to the organizers at RFI.
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To protest against the holding of this controversial gala, several thousand people gathered near Salazar station in Paris, at the call of left-wing political parties (LFI, EELV, NPA) and associations with cries of “ Smotrich assassin, Macron accomplice “. In addition to the slogans against Bezalel Smotrich, the demonstrators were protesting more generally against the policies pursued by the Israeli government in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. “ Free Palestine “, ” Israel get out of it, Palestine is not yours », Also chanted the demonstrators.
Another group of a few dozen demonstrators gathered near the Place de l’Etoile in Paris, at the call of organizations such as SOS Racisme in particular, some of them carrying signs: “ Smotrich, fascist, we don’t want him », According to an AFP journalist. Among the crowd, some left-wing political figures like Clémentine Autain, Alexis Corbière and Raquel Garrido.
The Paris police chief, Laurent Nuñez, interviewed on RTL radio on Wednesday, indicated that he had not banned this gala as it did not appear to present any risk of disturbance to public order. important. » AFP journalists, informed of the potential location, did not notice any disturbances shortly after 9:00 p.m. (8:00 p.m. UT).