President Emmanuel Macron has hosted religious leaders for talks on combatting anti-Semitism in France, a day after a Paris march rallied tens of thousands to express anxiety over an upsurge in acts against Jews.
There have been growing tensions across France, home to the largest Muslim and Jewish communities in Europe, as war rages in the Gaza Strip between Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel.
On Monday, Macron had urged the religious leaders to make an "educational effort to increase the number of measures addressed to young people," Catholic bishops' conference head Eric de Moulins-Beaufort told reporters after the meeting.
"The president's aim, which of course we will help pass on, is to spread this message," said the president of France's Central Israelite Consistory, Elie Korchia.
"Many young people no longer necessarily read the press, no longer watch TV, sometimes they're shut up in a language of their own, without reaching out to others," he added.
🔵 EXCUSIF | Dans un texte que notre journal révèle, Emmanuel Macron appelle les Français à se lever contre «l’insupportable résurgence d’un antisémitisme débridé»
— Le Parisien (@le_Parisien) November 11, 2023
Lire la lettre ⤵https://t.co/0cEtlfmPSO
Monday's talks were a "continuation of the appeal for national unity and brotherhood" Macron had made in a letter published on Saturday in daily Le Parisien, his Elysée Palace office said ahead of the meeting.
France has seen an upsurge in anti-Semitic acts since Hamas's bloody 7 October attack on Israel killed around 1,400 people – mostly civilians – and Israel's response in the Gaza Strip, which the Hamas-run health ministry says has killed more than 11,000, mostly civilians and many of them children.
Macron wrote that "a France where our Jewish fellow citizens are afraid is not France," calling on people to rally around the country's "values" and "universalism".
'No victimhood contest'
While the presidency did not release an exact guest list for Monday's gathering, France's chief rabbi Haim Korsia and rector of the Paris Grand Mosque Chems-Eddine Hafiz were also present alongside leaders representing the Orthodox church, Buddhism and Protestantism.
Sunday's march "should have been made into a battle against racism, that was important," Hafiz said, arguing that as well as "a real increase in anti-Semitism," France has seen "an outburst of remarks made against Muslims".
Nevertheless, "I don't want to get into a victimhood contest," he added.
Over 180,000 people turned out across France on Sunday according to police figures – 105,000 of them in Paris – to join marches "for the republic and against anti-Semitism".
Macron himself has been criticised for staying away from the march.
Jordan Bardella, who heads the far-right National Rally – which controversially joined the column – told broadcaster RTL on Monday that the president had "missed a rendez-vous with history".
Sylvain Maillard, leader of Macron's party in the National Assembly, defended the president's decision, telling Sud Radio that "a president's place isn't at a demonstration".
It seems that Macron *really* doesn't like how his interview was edited. He called @Isaac_Herzog to clarify that he does not accuse Israel of striking civilians intentionally, that he supports Israel's right to defend itself, and supports Israel in its war against Hamas. https://t.co/ifvX9vWgCa
— Lahav Harkov (@LahavHarkov) November 12, 2023
'Urge Israel to stop'
Macron has also been rebuked by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after criticising Israel's extensive bombing campaign in Gaza in a weekend interview with the BBC.
"Civilians are bombed ... these babies, these ladies, these old people are bombed and killed ... there is no reason for that and no legitimacy. So we do urge Israel to stop," he said.
The French leader's office said late Sunday that he had spoken with Israeli President Isaac Herzog by phone in an apparent bid to calm the waters.
Macron "again expressed his solidarity with Israel in the face of the horror of the terrorist attacks perpetrated by Hamas" and "reiterated Israel's right to defend itself and repeated France's solidarity with Israel," the Elysée said.
