Le Pen is there, Macron is not
100,000 march in Paris against hatred of Jews
November 13, 2023, 3:51 a.m
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Unlike Germany or Great Britain, Macron is calling for a stop to the Israeli bombings in Gaza. The French president is missing from the large demonstration against anti-Semitism in Paris. The right-wing populist Le Pen is marching for this.
More than 100,000 people took part in a mass rally against anti-Semitism amid a significant increase in anti-Semitic incidents in Paris. The “Great March” set off in the French capital on Sunday behind a large banner with the motto “For the Republic, against anti-Semitism”. The right-wing populist Marine Le Pen also took part, but not the left-wing populist party La France Insoumise (LFI).
According to the Paris police headquarters, around 105,000 people joined the demonstration in the capital, and according to the Interior Ministry, around 182,000 people took to the streets against anti-Semitism across France. At the head of the large demonstration in Paris were Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, former presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande, the president of the Jewish umbrella organization Crif, Yonathan Arfi, and the two chairmen of the National Assembly and Senate, Yaël Braun-Pivet and Gérard Larcher whose initiative the “big citizens’ march” declined.
Several former prime ministers, religious representatives and numerous ministers were also represented in the front rows. President Emmanuel Macron did not take part in the Paris rally, but assured in advance that he would be there “in spirit”. In a letter to the French published on Saturday evening by the newspaper Le Parisien, Macron condemned the “unbearable resurgence of unbridled anti-Semitism.” “A France in which our Jewish fellow citizens are afraid is not France,” Macron wrote. “A France in which French people are afraid because of their religion or origin is not France.” The march against anti-Semitism in Paris should show that France is united “behind its values and its universalism”.
“Absence of the left speaks for itself”
Since the beginning of the war between the radical Islamic Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Israel, the French authorities have registered almost 1,250 anti-Semitic crimes, including insults and graffiti as well as acts of violence. Since France is home to both the largest Jewish and Muslim communities in Europe, there are concerns that violence in the Middle East will spread to the country. According to Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, more than 3,000 police officers should provide security in Paris alone. Further rallies were planned in several cities and towns across the country.
The large rally had already become a political issue in advance. This was ensured by the boycott of the left-wing populist LFI and Le Pen’s call for their supporters to take part in the “Great March”. Before the march began, Prime Minister Borne wrote on the online service X (formerly Twitter) that the absence of the left “speaks for itself.” But the presence of Marine Le Pen and her Rassemblement National party “is not deceiving anyone,” she added, referring to the party’s anti-Semitic past. Meanwhile, members of the left-wing organization Golem were prevented by police from blocking Le Pen’s participation in the rally.
In the fight against increasing anti-Semitic incidents in schools and universities, the French government has announced a partnership with the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco). This is intended to help educators with concrete advice to “prevent and combat anti-Semitism and other forms of hatred in schools,” explained the Foreign Ministry. In a first step, France will provide 600,000 euros for this.