War in the Middle East: rallies to support Israel and the victims of the October 7 attack

The emotion is visible on the faces. One year after the Hamas attack on Israel, on October 7, 2023, several thousand people gathered this Sunday in support of nearly 1,200 victims and to the hostages still held.

In Paris, at Place de Fontenoy, there were thousands gathered around a stage where relatives of victims spoke. A mother recounts the death of her son, her voice filled with tears. “shot by vile terrorists” during “one of the most terrible days since the creation of the State of Israel”. Videos of October 7 were also broadcast on the giant screens, not obscuring some very harsh imagesto the cries of “terrorists, Nazis, trash!” The gathering continued with a demonstration up to the Trocadéro, with slogans of “free the hostages” et “Israel will live, Israel will overcome.”

“The greatest crime against humanity committed against Jews since the Holocaust”, proclaimed at the same time, in Toulouse, a banner displayed on the gates of the Palace of Justice. On the Place du Salin, they are 600 to 700 people gatheredaccording to the organizers. To pay tribute to the victims, a minute of silence and a solemn Marseillaise.

Others preferred to go to the synagogue, like in Marseille, where the great synagogue was full this Sunday evening. “A year later, our hearts are still torn”explained Marc Mimoun, spokesperson for the city’s Israelite Consistory, which hosts the second Jewish community in the country.

“This attack traumatized Jews around the world”underlines Michel Wurm, president of the Jewish community of Clermont-Ferrand. Like him, a fifty people made the trip Place de la Victoire this Sunday. They lit candles, “to commemorate the dead on each side”insists Annie, who has come to reflect and think of her loved ones. His sister lives in Netania, north of Tel Aviv.

The participants also called for the release of hostages still detained, “or their corpses”. Of the 251 taken to the Gaza Strip, 97 are still held in captivity, including 33 declared dead. At the foot of the Parisian stage, the sister of Ofer Kalderon, still restrained, improvises a press briefing during which she expresses her dismay. “We ask the French government to do everything to bring them back”she said.

“Anti-Semitism has been legitimized”

Many visitors express their dismay at the rise in anti-Semitism and deplore a certain indifference. “Look, here there are French Jews and no one else, and that saddens us enormously,” notes Yves Teszner, for whom “anti-Semitism has been legitimized”. Anti-Semitic acts have been on the rise in France since October 7.

“We are combative, but sad to see the state in which the country has been put by the hate speech of the far left”adds his neighbor, who also admits “don’t understand the line” of French President Emmanuel Macron who called on Saturday for an end to arms deliveries to Israel. In the Parisian procession, the mention of LFI is also regularly whistled.

In Bordeaux, several hundred people marched late in the afternoon, most dressed in white, and brandishing portraits of hostages and signs proclaiming “anti-Semitism is not residual” et “our lives are worth more than the import of conflict.”

Ceremonies planned for this Monday

This Monday, one year to the day after the attack of October 7, several ceremonies and commemorations are organized in several cities in France, such as a silent march in Marseille in tribute to the victims, a ceremony at Place Bellecour in Lyon, or even a ceremony support for hostages in Paris, which the Prime Minister will attend Michel Barnier. Emmanuel Macron will receive the families of Franco-Israeli hostages detained in Gaza.

For his part, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot will reflect this Monday morning on the Nova festival website in Israelwhere 364 people were killed during the Hamas attack. The minister is expected at 9 a.m. at the festival site. “He will pay tribute to the victims, including 48 French nationals, will speak with their families, and will renew France’s call for all the hostages still held by Hamas, including our compatriots Ofer Kalderon and Ohad Yahalomi, to be released without delay”specified the Quai d’Orsay. Jean-Noël Barrot will then meet, at 11:30 a.m., with Israel Katz, Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs.