Macron’s headache over French October 7 memorial

PARIS  — French President Emmanuel Macron is presiding over a state ceremony Wednesday to pay tribute to French victims of the Hamas attacks against Israel last October. But the guest list of the national homage is already giving the president quite a headache.

Relatives of victims are calling on the French presidency to ban far-left politicians from the tribute over their refusal to condemn the October 7 attacks as terrorism. MPs from Macron’s Renaissance party have also chimed in and called on MPs belonging to the France Unbowed party to stay home.

In a letter to the president, families belonging to the No Silence pressure group write that France Unbowed “carries a very heavy responsibility in the explosion of Judeophobia in our country.”

“France Unbowed and its spokespersons have made very serious comments since the October 7 pogrom, mixing indecency, lack of respect and negationism,” they wrote.

While the far-left party condemned the violent attack against civilians, it refused to qualify the Hamas acts as terrorism. One MP even described the group, that is labeled a terrorist organization by several countries, as “a resistance movement”. The resulting outrage added to past accusations of complacency towards antisemitism.

On Wednesday, the French president is set to honor the 42 French victims of the Hamas attacks in the stately courtyard of the Invalides Monument in Paris, and send a message on the fight against “the cancer of antisemitism” in our times, an adviser to the president said Monday. Portraits of the victims, many of whom have been buried in Israel, will be displayed in the courtyard.

But it’s an unfortunate irony that the issue of antisemitism in France — in the wake of the Hamas attacks and Israel’s retaliatory military operations in the Gaza Strip — is already at the heart of the ceremony.

Several lawmakers belonging to the far-left France Unbowed party have said they would attend the memorial on Wednesday in spite of the reluctance expressed by the relatives.

“There were 42 French citizens who were killed. It’s normal and it’s important that France pays homage to them. It’s a national homage in which all the political groups are invited,” said MP Manuel Bompard on Sunday.

Mathilde Panot, the head of the France Unbowed parliamentary group, said she also plans to attend the ceremony, and called for authorities to pay tribute to the French-Palestinians who were killed in Israel’s bombing campaigns of Gaza.

On Monday, the same presidential adviser said the guest list was determined by protocol, adding however that it is up to “everyone to assess the appropriateness of their presence, given the families… have expressed strong emotions.”

Walking the tightrope

With France home to the largest Muslim and Jewish communities in Europe, the French president has been under pressure to strike a balance on the latest war between Israel and Hamas.

In the wake of the Hamas attacks, France increased security around Jewish schools and places of worship and initially banned pro-Palestinian demonstrations amid fears of disruptions. At the same time, Macron refused to join high-profile politicians and former presidents in marching against antisemitism in November in Paris.

The national homage itself has been months in the pipeline, having first been floated in October, according to the French daily Le Parisien.

In another attempt to strike a balance, a second aide to the president said Macron was planning a separate tribute to French victims in Gaza. “We owe the same emotion and the same dignity [to them],” she said Monday.