Grand Rabbi of France, President of the Conference of Bishops of France and Rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris were received, among other representatives of religion, by Emmanuel Macron, at the Elysée on Monday November 13, who called them to a “ educational effort” among young people. This reception took place the day after the march for the Republic, against anti-Semitism launched at the call of Yaël Braun-Pivet and Gérard Larcher, president of the two parliamentary chambers.
The Head of State “encouraged us to increase actions towards young people”, expressed the president of the Conference of Bishops of France (CEF), Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, at the end of the meeting. It is about “explaining this universalist spirit to all young people, in order to avoid victimized competition and ultimately build the values ??of the Republic,” added the president of the Protestant Federation of France, Christian Krieger.
“The president’s objective, which we will obviously help to relay, is that this word can be spread” while “many young people who no longer necessarily read the press, no longer watch television, are sometimes locked up in their own language (…) without going towards the other”, affirmed the president of the Israelite Central Consistory, Elie Korchia.
Muslim leaders absent from the march against anti-Semitism
Inviting people to “listen,” the chief rabbi of France, Haïm Korsia, warned: “No one can lock themselves into their own and simple suffering. At that point, we segment a society.” Without returning to the controversy surrounding the absence of the Head of State from the march against anti-Semitism, Mr. Korsia was pleased to see that “everyone was united in the reaffirmation of the values ??of the Republic”.
Muslim leaders were not represented at this march, and the rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, Chems-Eddine Hafiz, explained: “I have no lessons to learn from the fight against anti-Semitism. The Paris Mosque has always been extremely active in the fight against anti-Semitism. But “it should have been a fight against racism, it was important,” he added. “I don’t want to compete with victims,” because “there is a real rise in anti-Semitism,” but “there has been an outburst of statements made against Muslims,” he added.
Also invited to this meeting, in the presence of the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, the president of the Union of Mocks of France, Mohammed Moussaoui, as well as Sadek Beloucif for the Forum of Islam of France (Forif), Dimitrios Ploumis for Orthodox worship and Antony Boussemart for Buddhists.
Around 105,000 people in Paris – 182,000 across France – demonstrated on Sunday against the explosion in the number of hostile acts against Jews since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas on October 7. In a letter published on Saturday by the daily Le Parisien, Mr. Macron deplored “the unbearable resurgence of unbridled anti-Semitism” and judged that “a France where our Jewish fellow citizens are afraid is not France.” “France must remain united behind its values, its universalism, united for itself, to carry out its project and work for peace and security for all in the Middle East,” he added.
