PARIS, France (AP) – More than 100,000 people marched in Paris on Sunday to condemn rising antisemitism in the aftermath of Israel’s continuing battle in Gaza against Hamas.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, representatives from multiple left-wing parties, conservatives and centrists from President Emmanuel Macron’s party, and far-right leader Marine Le Pen marched in Paris on Sunday amid heavy security. Macron did not join the rally, but he stated his support for it and urged residents to stand up to “the unbearable resurgence of unbridled antisemitism.”
Jean-Luc Melenchon, the leader of the far-left France Unbowed party, stayed away from the march, declaring last week on X, formerly Twitter, that it would be a gathering of “friends of unconditional support for the massacre” in Gaza.
Paris authorities deployed 3,000 police troops along the route of the protest called by Senate and National Assembly leaders amid an alarming increase in anti-Jewish acts in France since Israel launched its war against Hamas following its Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel.
France has the largest Jewish population in Europe, yet given its Nazi complicity during WWII, antisemitic activities now expose ancient wounds.
Robert Fiel, holding a French flag, stated that demonstrating against antisemitism is “more than a duty.”
More Than 100,000 People March In Paris Against Soaring Antisemitism Amid Israel-Hamas War
“It’s a march against violence, against antisemitism, against all (political extremes) that are infiltrating the society, to show that the silent majority does exist,” said the 67-year-old.
Family members of some of the 40 French people murdered in the initial Hamas attack, as well as those missing or held captive, marched alongside the march’s 105,000 participants, according to Paris police.
Patrick Klugman, a lawyer and member of the “Freethem” organization seeking to free people detained by Hamas and other groups in Gaza, said the march’s high turnout is relevant and symbolic in comforting Jewish communities in France.
“I am very proud of my country because of this mobilisation,” he remarked. “I feel less alone than in the past weeks and days.”
Yonathan Arfi, head of France’s Representative Council of Jewish Institutions, or CRIF, said the march on Sunday heartened him, but the question remains, he told French television BFM at the march, “what will be done (against antisemitism) tomorrow?”
Tomer Sisley, an Israeli-French actor, maintained that the overwhelming show of support demonstrated that the majority of French citizens oppose violence and hatred towards any religious or ethnic minority.
More Than 100,000 People March In Paris Against Soaring Antisemitism Amid Israel-Hamas War
“We’re not Jews, we’re not Muslims, we’re not Christians,” he continued. “We are French and we are here to show that we are all together.”
In the month since the Middle East war began, French authorities have recorded over 1,000 actions against Jews across the country.
Macron promised to prosecute and punish culprits in a message to the French on Sunday.
“A France where our Jewish fellow citizens are afraid is not France,” Macron wrote in the letter published in the newspaper Le Parisien. He urged the country to stay “united behind its values… and work for peace and security for all in the Middle East.”
Macron said he would go “in my heart and in spirit,” but not physically. “My role is to build national unity and to stand firm on values,” Macron said on the sidelines of Armistice Day commemorations to mark the end of World War I on Saturday.
More Than 100,000 People March In Paris Against Soaring Antisemitism Amid Israel-Hamas War
Marine Le Pen, France’s far-right leader, attended the march on Sunday despite heated accusations that her once-pariah National Rally party has failed to shed its antisemitic past despite acquiring electoral respectability.
After joining the march with the party’s president, Jordan Bardella, Le Pen rejected critics, saying she and the party members are “exactly where we need to be.” During the march, she urged other lawmakers to “take a break from fomenting political controversies.”
According to the Interior Ministry, officials have registered 1,247 antisemitic incidents since Oct. 7, about three times as many as in the entire year of 2022.
Although pro-Palestinian demonstrations have been generally prohibited in France, supporters have marched in numerous French towns in recent weeks, including thousands demanding a cease-fire in Gaza at an authorized protest in Paris last Sunday.
