Display the faces of Franco-Israeli hostages on the town hall, the request of a Jewish association in Lille

On October 7, 2023, Hamas carried out a deadly attack in Israel, triggering the war in the Gaza Strip. Of the 251 people kidnapped, 63 hostages are still alive, including two Franco-Israeli. A Lille Jewish association is asking that the faces of these two men be displayed on the facade of the town hall, as the city has done for others previously.

Around a hundred postcards sent to Lille town hall. A symbolic action to demand equal treatment of hostages. The young association Génération Gamzon is demanding that the faces of the last two Franco-Israeli hostages be displayed on the facade of Lille town hall, as the city has done for other people held around the world.

“It is an action by citizens. Jews or not. There have already been French hostages, their faces were displayed. There, there are no faces, no counting. We have the feeling that because they are Jewish, they are less considered, less important,” explainsFancy Geller, Lille co-responsible for the association.

On the cards it is written : “Madame Aubry, It has been a year since two of our French citizens have been hostages of Hamas, Ofer Kalderon and Ohad Yahalomi. The Lille town hall would be honored to display their names and portraits on its facade.

The postcards depict a French flag with a yellow ribbon at its center, a symbol of support for the hostages in the hands of Hamas.

They were sent to be received on October 7, 2024, a year after the Hamas attack which left 1,205 dead. The courier continues : “This action is the initiative of the members of our association, Générations Gamzon Nord, which has, for a year, been constantly raising public awareness of the fate of hostages held captive by Hamas”.

She continues “The town hall has put a sign on the facade, but the message is ambiguous. There are no names or faces of the hostages. It just says release of hostages.“Then she explains that some consider Palestinian detainees hostages.”While they are arrested and awaiting trial, or serving a sentence imposed by a State”.

She continues: “We ask that the message be clear, as the Region was able to do, from the start. The city of Lille maintains the fLou. Some people feel misunderstood.”

“As soon as we talk about hostages, because we are Jews, we are necessarily pro-Israeli politics. As if we were responsible for the situation, for what is happening far from here. Everyone has a judgment, without really knowing the situation“.

She says she understands and accepts criticism of the policy pursued by Israel, but she is confronted with reactions in France that she did not expect. She says she never heard anti-Semitic remarks in her childhood in Lille but that since October 7, speaking, even with loved ones, is sometimes complicated. For her, the ambiguity of certain politicians has consequences on the lives of Jews in France.

She claims : “We can no longer express ourselves freely, if we talk about the Hamas hostages, it is necessarily because we are for the war and what is happening in Gaza. No, we can be against both! Any war is horrible. There are no deaths more important than others. War is terrible.”

Fancy Geller sighs: “I am French before being Jewish. I live in France, I work in France, I have the values ​​of France. I want to live in peace with others, regardless of their religion, their opinion. But the atrocities need to be denounced.”