Arthur Delaborde, edited by Sylvain Allemand
Emmanuel Macron received representatives of all religions at the Élysée on Monday to send them a message of unity. A reception taking place the day after the marches against anti-Semitism in France where the President of the Republic was not present. An absence pointed out by the opposition that Emmanuel Macron would like to forget.
The absent are always wrong. Marches against anti-Semitism in France brought together 180,000 people in the French streets on Sunday. In the procession, the absence of Emmanuel Macron did not go unnoticed and it earned him strong criticism. To turn the page, the Head of State received all representatives of religious faiths in his presidential residence on Monday. A way for him to escape the controversy while transmitting a message of national unity.
During this interview, the president showed himself to be on the move to respond to the resurgence of anti-Semitic acts in France and absolutely maintain the unity of the country. “Emmanuel Macron did not march, but he is taking action,” an executive from the presidential camp confides to Europe 1. A posture coupled with promises of future announcements including more prevention and more repression without however giving more precision.
“He wanted to do De Gaulle”
Since the start of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, the president has played a balancing act and applied his “at the same time” strategy which is not entirely convincing. For the executive, Emmanuel Macron was the victim of an unfortunate combination between the publication of the letter addressed to the Frenchman deploring the return of unbridled anti-Semitism and the interview given a little earlier to the BBC to urge Israel to stop the bombings, killing civilians in Gaza.
“He wanted to act like De Gaulle,” whispers someone close to the head of state. In 1967, the first president of the Fifth Republic proclaimed: “the spectacle of Arab refugees dying of thirst and without recourse is tragic. There is a real Arab ghetto in Gaza. The moral and political consequences of the tragedy will weigh heavily.”