It is already generating a lot of comments within the political class. A march against anti-Semitism, in the face of the increase in anti-Jewish acts in France, is planned for this Sunday, November 12 in Paris. The call was launched by the President of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, and the President of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet.
In a column published yesterday in the columns of Figaro, they recall that in “barely four weeks, more than 1,000 facts were recorded, twice as many as in the entire year of 2022”. Figures, almost daily and sadly updated by the Ministry of the Interior. And the conflict continues to be exported to French soil. “Fear is setting in and even risks becoming commonplace if we do not react. A start is necessary, to clearly demonstrate that France does not accept anti-Semitism and that the French do not give up, and will not give up. never to the inevitability of hatred”, write Gérard Larcher and Yaël Braun-Pivet.
Not even 24 hours after this call for unity against hatred, the political class is already tearing itself apart. If the initiative was immediately welcomed by the majority, but also by the right and the extreme right, some on the left condition their participation in the market on the presence or absence of certain organizations or parties. Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne will “participate” in the march,” government spokesperson Olivier Véran announced on Wednesday. “In my opinion, the National Rally has no place in this demonstration, it is a public demonstration to which everyone is free, in conscience, to participate”, declared the minister during the report of the Council of Ministers, not commenting on a possible presence of President Emmanuel Macron.
The presence of the RN deemed illegitimate
At the end of a national office on Tuesday evening, the Socialist Party, which itself had proposed a similar initiative without setting a date, called for participation in this march, but deemed the presence of the National Rally “illegitimate”, while the far-right party has already announced that it will go there. “We will respond,” wrote RN president Jordan Bardella on the X platform.
Guest of RTL this Wednesday, November 8, Marine Le Pen, for her part, called on all RN voters to join this march, judging that “it is time for the French people […] expresses its absolutely total rejection of the spectacular increase in visible acts of, in fact, anti-Semitism.”
La France insoumise, already under fire for its refusal to qualify Hamas as a terrorist organization, for its part affirmed that it would not go to the demonstration, because of the presence of the RN. “Fighting against anti-Semitism and against all forms of racism is impractical alongside a party which finds its origins in the history of collaboration with Nazism”, affirmed LFI in a press release, believing that “the ambiguity of the objectives” of this demonstration “allows the most unbearable support”.
A little earlier, in a scathing tweet, Jean-Luc Mélenchon had decided in his own way: “The friends of unconditional support for the massacre have their meeting”, he launched, in an allusion to the bombings Israelis in Gaza.
The president of the Macronist Renaissance party, Stéphane Séjourné also expressed reservations for the same reasons. “Renaissance will be present on Sunday for the big march against anti-Semitism. However, I will never march behind the same banner as the National Rally,” wrote the MP on his X account.
While the leader of the Communist Party, Fabien Roussel, declared this morning on France 2 that he “will not march alongside” the far-right party, believing that the National Rally “does not have its place” in the walks, adding however that he “does not intend to be absent” from this event. “They must specify the contours of this gathering,” added the communist leader, who “will not understand that the RN participates in such a march” because this party “descends from the National Front” founded by Jean- Marie Le Pen “convicted several times for anti-Semitic remarks”.
Crif, Imam Chalghoumi and Eric Zemmour present
Even before the official announcement, the president of the Les Républicains party Éric Ciotti had made his participation known, inviting “all Republicans” to oppose “this rise of totally unbearable anti-Semitism”, he said in front of the press at the Assembly. The president of the Reconquest! Éric Zemmour and his European candidate Marion Maréchal have indicated that they will be present.
The president of Crif (Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France), Yonathan Arfi, gave his “full support to the appeal”. Hassen Chalghoumi, imam of Drancy and president of the conference of imams of France, announced this morning on franceinfo that he will participate in the march for the Republic and against anti-Semitism.
“For me, this march is crucial and important in this period of unrest, in this period where unfortunately our Jewish compatriots are threatened, attacked. It proves and shows that we, together, show our unity and our brotherhood, regardless of our religion or political colors, to say loud and clear that hatred and anti-Semitism have no place in France,” he declared. And to add: “It must not be just the Jewish community” which participates in this march “but all of us, the secular, the religious, parties of the right, of the left, to be there, united and united”, says -he.
.