It was a human tide, tens of thousands marching through central Paris on Sunday in the biggest demonstration against anti-Semitism France has seen in years. They were summoned by the presidents of the Senate and the National Assembly, without party signs, all citizens. Lots of French flags. Some, a few, Israelis. And an atmosphere of gravity, due to the wave of hatred acts in this country since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 and the Israeli bombardment of Gaza since then. At the same time, the atmosphere was one of hope: many French Jews were able to feel supported by their compatriots of other faiths or no confession.
And all this, despite the absences. And despite the awkward presences. Because, just as significant as the mass mobilization (105,000 people in Paris, according to the Ministry of the Interior, and 182,000 throughout France) and the attendance of Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne and former presidents François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy were the absences. First, that of Jean-Luc Mélenchon and his party, La France Insoumise (LFI), the brother of Podemos and hegemonic on the French left. "The friends of unconditional support for the massacre have their appointment," Mélenchon had declared a few days earlier, as if attending the march "for the Republic and against anti-Semitism" meant supporting Israel's war in Gaza.
Second absence: that of President Emmanuel Macron, who considered that it was not the function of the head of state to take to the streets to protest. But in a letter to the French he said he saw a "reason for hope" in the 70 demonstrations against anti-Semitism across the country.
Significant was a presence. That of Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Rally (RN), heir to the National Front, a party founded half a century ago by her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, a politician convicted of anti-Semitic statements, and by a handful of nostalgics for the Vichy regime, an accomplice of Nazi Germany.
For years the RN was repudiated in France. This Sunday she paraded among other citizens and leaders (from the right to the socialist, ecologist and communist left) and was able to do so without being rejected by the majority. Golem, a group of young left-wing Jews, rebuked her by shouting: "Le Pen, get out / the Jews don't want you." But other protesters responded, "We're with you, Marine!" And even, addressing young Jews: "Fascists!" Things didn't get any worse.
"My own country minimizes what's going on," lamented Meghan Merires, a 30-year-old woman in the crowd who carried a sign that read: "No anti-Semite will be able to hate us as much as we love each other so much, and this for 5,784 years." "It's our calendar," he says. "We, the Jewish people, have been on Earth ever since."
"Macron should be here"
"Macron should be here!" says Merires, who recalls that, at the last major demonstration against anti-Semitism, the then president, François Mitterand, did attend. It was in 1990, after the desecration of Jewish graves in a cemetery in Carpentras, in the south of the country. "Between us," he adds, "we already know that the president is not coming because he would mess up in the slums." It refers to the banlieues where the Muslim population and those of immigrant origin are concentrated.
"[Macron] is afraid," interjects Martine Lancri, a 65-year-old doctor. "And why be afraid of Islamists? And that's how people end up voting for the far right." Merires interrupts her: "They are the only ones who have supported us, the only ones." Lancri replies: "I can't vote for the extreme right." But, when asked if it bothers them that Marine Le Pen is at the demonstration, they agree: "Not at all. Everyone is welcome." "Except Mélenchon," says Merires.
Demonstrators wave a flag linking the Israeli flag with the old Iranian flag. MOHAMMED BADRA (EFE)
A few meters away, a Jewish family debates Macron's absence. "He supports us, but if he had to show up for all demonstrations against anti-Semitism or racism, he would go to a demonstration every Sunday," says Deborah, a 39-year-old real estate agent. Stanislas, her husband, disagrees: "Of course I should come!"
With Le Pen's presence, no problem. "Le Pen's voters represent 20% or 25% of the electorate. Why wouldn't they come?" says Serge, Stanislas' father and Deborah's father-in-law. "Le Pen has not yet completely cleaned house in her party. We are talking about an anti-Semitism that has always existed, but this is not the one that frightens us. The one that scares us is the Islamic."
Far-left or Islamist
"Today anti-Semitism comes mainly from the extreme left and Islamists," says another participant in the march, essayist Pascal Bruckner. "There is an explosion of anti-Semitism the likes of which has not been seen since World War II, with synagogues and Jewish schools protected by police, graffiti everywhere, and a leader, Mélenchon, who speaks like a fascist from the 1930s and claims against Muslims, but does not distinguish between ordinary Islam and Islamists."
In the past month, 1,247 anti-Semitic acts have been recorded in France and 539 people have been arrested. Along the route, between the Esplanade des Invalides and the Jardin du Luxembourg, you hear testimonies of Jews who now padlock the garden door and talk of friends and acquaintances who hide Jewish symbols so as not to be seen.
"Since the attacks," Dr. Lancri said, "I am very distraught, I don't feel like I am in France anymore." And she says goodbye with a broken voice: "I'm hopeless."
The demonstration leaves a picture of France, or of a certain France. The one that takes to the streets against anti-Semitism is not exactly the same as the one that comes out in the pro-Palestinian demonstrations. And it leaves a political photo: a movement of tectonic plates. Perhaps this Sunday will be remembered as the day the far right entered the majority Republican consensus, from which it was excluded until recently. With the discomfort of Macronism and the moderate left, yes, but also resignation or even the approval of the majority.
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