On Wednesday February 7, there will be the highly anticipated national tribute at Les Invalides to the forty-two French victims of the terrorist attack carried out on October 7 in Israel by Hamas, placed under the sign of “the fight against anti-Semitism”.
Then there will be a “memorial time” for the French people who died under Israeli bombings in Gaza.
This is what the Élysée announced on Monday February 5.
However, no details on the date of such an event, nor on the modalities it would take, were provided by the presidency.
“It is obvious that we owe the same emotion and the same dignity to the French victims of the bombings in Gaza and this tribute will be paid to them at another time,” assured the entourage of the Head of State.
A second step, because there is no question of “mixing the two types of victims”.
Even if, recalls the Élysée, the president repeats “that a life is worth a life”.
That there is therefore, in his eyes, no “double standards” depending on whether the victims are Israeli or Palestinian.
Highly sensitive subject, while the fear of importing the conflict into France still remains strong.
Visiting Israel this Monday, the head of diplomacy, Stéphane Séjourné, has he not just declared that “settler violence” in the occupied West Bank must “stop”?
For once, LFI immediately applauded the announcement from the Élysée.
“It is a decision that we welcome and a request that I addressed to the President of the Republic at the beginning of November 2023. We will fully associate ourselves with this tribute,” declared Mathilde Panon, leader of the Insoumis deputies in the Assembly. .
Still, there may be some excitement there.
For the moment, nothing is concretely planned, it is just a reflection.
It is also likely that, if the question had not been asked by a journalist, the Élysée would not have reported this “reflection” in the pipeline.
LFI will not fail to recall the Élysée promise
Because the time, insists the presidency, is to pay tribute to the Franco-Israeli victims of October 7, who will each be represented by their name and photo, as well as to the hostages – three nationals are still missing, “alleged hostages” in Gaza.
Out of decency towards the families, many of whom traveled from Israel on a special flight chartered by France, it is to this ceremony that we should devote ourselves.
The form of the other tribute, more precisely “memorial time”, a rather vague formulation, would therefore remain to be defined.
Likewise, it remains to be seen who will be affected.
The authorities announced, on October 31, the death of two French children in Gaza, but they provided no other assessment of nationals or dual nationals potentially victims of bombings.
AFP recalls that sources close to the case had indicated that the mother of the children was the subject of “an international arrest warrant” as part of an anti-terrorism investigation.
In short, delicate subject…
One thing is certain: LFI will not fail to recall the Élysée promise.
Especially since the Mélenchonists are at the heart of a harsh controversy, several families of victims having asked, in a letter to Emmanuel Macron, to “ban” the presence of LFI at the tribute on February 7.
If the Élysée responds that a republican ceremony provides for the invitation of all parliamentarians, an advisor nevertheless adds that “it is up to everyone to assess the appropriateness or not of their presence”.