PARIS — Within the days after Hamas struck Israel, French President Emmanuel Macron made a nationwide deal with vowing his “unreserved solidarity” with Israel.
A month later, he swerved to redress the steadiness, organizing a convention to help Gaza, becoming a member of requires a cease-fire. Within the days and months following Israel’s floor operation and airstrikes, Macron has amped up his help for Gaza, organizing help airdrops with Jordan and even dispatching a helicopter service turned hospital ship to deal with a trickle of sick Palestinians allowed in Egypt.
All through the six months of battle between Israel and Hamas, Macron has repeatedly vowed to do every thing he may to fight the return of antisemitism in France, together with throughout a ceremony for a Jewish group on the Elysée a number of weeks in the past.
The day after the ceremony, he was in Marseille consoling a girl who cried as she pleaded with him: “Mr. President, we have to do one thing concerning the Palestinians … don’t let these kids die.”
In France, Macron has strived to strike a steadiness between France’s giant — the most important ones in Europe — and deeply divided Muslim and Jewish communities.
“We’re doing our utmost, however we’re not there, we don’t management issues,” Macron answered as he held the shoulder of the girl in Marseille.
“However we have now referred to as for a cease-fire and we’re doing humanitarian operations,” he added, amid an ever rising variety of casualties as Israel’s operations in Gaza result in a dying toll of upwards of 33,000, in line with its Hamas-run Well being Ministry.
Hardly every week has passed by up to now six months with out Macron making an attempt to maintain the peace in France.
French society is a powder keg of tensions, with common eruptions of violence in disaffected, predominantly Muslim suburbs, rising antisemitism and terrorist assaults up to now decade which have elevated a way of insecurity and fueled anti-Muslim sentiment. Over the previous years, France has pushed for extra legal guidelines and guidelines safeguarding secularism towards Islamic radicalism, which have additionally alienated many French Muslims.
Specialists and diplomats deny France’s diplomacy is set by Macron’s makes an attempt to navigate the complexities of home politics laden with resurgent antisemitism, widespread Islamophobia and fears of terrorism. However the longer Israeli-Palestinian battle carries on, the extra France resembles a flashpoint.
“There’s a double balancing recreation, inner and exterior, with our diplomatic efforts and the need to forge nationwide unity, by widespread values and commemorative moments,” mentioned a French diplomat aware of the area, who was granted anonymity to debate a delicate matter.
The Elysée Palace didn’t reply to a request for a remark for this story.
“Macron and the federal government are very afraid of divisions on this matter and the battle in Israel and Gaza has created a number of tensions inside the institution,” OpinionWay pollster Bruno Jeanbart mentioned.
Terror fears
In Israel, Macron advised retooling the anti-ISIS coalition to combat the militant group Hamas, a suggestion that was rapidly torpedoed by the worldwide group. However the message was clear: France wouldn’t be gentle on terrorism, even when it was seen as a departure from France’s traditionally extra pro-Palestinian stance.
Within the days that adopted the Hamas assault wherein over 1,100 individuals had been killed at a music competition and throughout kibbutzim close to Gaza, Macron reached for a reference that resonated deeply in France: the Paris terror assaults in 2015.
“We too have mourned victims killed at a celebration, in careless youth … we all know, in our flesh, that nothing can justify terrorism,” he mentioned then, of the 130 individuals killed in a number of Islamist assaults on bars and a live performance corridor in Paris.
On this speech, Macron mentioned he shared Israel’s grief, with the dying of 13 French residents, the worst lack of life in a terrorist assault since an assault within the southern metropolis of Good in 2016.
In line with the pollster Jeanbart, a decade of terrorism has fed “a rising feeling” in France that “Islam, and Islamism particularly, is a risk to France and to its safety.”
The assaults led to an increase in anti-Muslim sentiment amid discrimination that’s widespread in numerous sectors of French society. French authorities have been targeted on selecting low degree indicators of Islamic radicalization to forestall assaults, resulting in an environment of suspicion.
Sixty-six % of French Muslims report feeling discriminated towards, notably due to French measures to safeguard secularism within the public house, in line with a latest ballot.
“France has catastrophic outcomes on discrimination, regardless of the testing strategies,” Hakim El Karoui, a researcher for the think-tank Terra Nova, mentioned. “And it’s apparent that terrorism has worsened the issue, as a result of individuals are scared.”
Islamophobia and antisemitism
Within the 24 hours after the assaults in Israel, France upped safety round Jewish faculties and synagogues, fearing a spike in copycat assaults on French Jews. In line with figures from the Ministry of the Inside, antisemitic assaults in France elevated by 1,000 % within the final 5 months.
“There’s a concern of violence that goes again to the 2 intifadas, each time the state of affairs in Israel and the Palestinian territories flares up, there’s an uptick in antisemitic acts in France,” the researcher Marc Hecker, referencing the Palestinian uprisings within the Eighties and the early 2000s, mentioned.
This comes towards a backdrop of rising antisemitism in previous years, together with a number of high-profile killings concentrating on Jews which have shocked the nation, and an uptick within the variety of Jewish individuals leaving France for Israel. From 2015, as much as 7,000 French Jews moved to Israel per yr, up from 2,000 per yr within the 2000s. Since October 7, about 1,200 French residents have filed a request to maneuver to Israel, in line with the Israeli immigration minister.
France is maintaining a watchful eye on the rise in antisemitic acts, upping safety round Jewish faculties and locations of worship and rising safety investigations forward of the Paris Olympic Video games, with 1 million probes deliberate over the subsequent couple of months.
“The affect of what’s taking place over there may be quicker, extra huge, as a result of the 2 communities change into extra polarized, just like the Israeli and Arab societies,” the identical diplomat mentioned.
Within the rapid aftermath of the October 7 assaults, French authorities banned pro-Palestinian protests, amid fears that they might be marred by violence. They had been later licensed on an ad-hoc foundation, after a ruling from France’s high courtroom.
For a lot of French Muslims, significantly these caught in poor neighborhoods, the plight of Palestinians has change into “a metaphor” for his or her place in France, El Karoui mentioned.
“There’s a way of identification, significantly among the many younger, and so they’ve struggled to precise it with out sounding like they help Hamas,” El Karoui mentioned.
Macron has hardened his stance on problems with secularism and terrorism since coming to energy in 2017. Macron pushed by laws to combat “Islamist separatism,” which included measures corresponding to stricter oversight of education or controls over international funding of mosques.
The political tensions don’t assist mend relations between the French Jewish and Muslim organizations that frayed over the battle throughout the Mediterranean.
“We’re bringing the battle right here as a substitute of exporting peace,” Imam Hassan Chalghoumi, who preaches at a mosque within the city of Drancy north of Paris, mentioned. “The rabbis we all know, they don’t name us anymore.”
Chalghoumi was the one consultant of the Muslim group to attend a state memorial final month honoring the dying of 42 French residents who had been killed in Hamas’ assaults towards Israel. The commemoration, led by Macron, was geared toward showcasing unity however finally was marred by controversies about which political events needs to be invited.
Tradition wars in an echo chamber
Two irreconciliable camps are rising in France, in line with politics professor Vincent Martigny, with the precise and the far proper changing into extra pro-Israeli and the left changing into extra staunchly pro-Palestinian.
“Conservatives assume Israel and the West are one block of values, the place Israel is on the frontline and should be supported, or the combat [against Islamism] will come to Europe,” he mentioned.
For the conservatives and the far proper, this can be a break with the previous. Below former President Jacques Chirac, the precise had typically been supportive of the Palestinians towards Israel, in step with France’s shut hyperlinks with Arab nations.
The far-right Nationwide Rally, led by Marine Le Pen, has additionally swung staunchly behind Israel, in a transfer seen as an try and distance itself from its poisonous, antisemitic previous. The founding father of the occasion, Jean-Marie Le Pen, was convicted on a number of events for belittling the Holocaust. A cross-party march towards anti-Semitism in November was additionally fraught with tensions over whether or not the French far proper needs to be allowed to attend.
In the meantime, a part of the French left in the meantime has change into “extra radicalized” as supporters of intersectionality, the concept that completely different discriminations overlap and are linked, have embraced the Palestinian trigger, researcher Martigny mentioned.
“Intersectionality is the combat towards oppression in all its types, and the Palestinians are seen as probably the most crushed individuals on the planet,” he mentioned.
France’s far-left France Unbowed has turned Gaza into one in all its central marketing campaign themes forward of the European election in June, with the French-Palestinian activist Rima Hassan working as a candidate.
Despite the fact that the far-left occasion has condemned Hamas’ assaults towards Israel, it has refused to name the group “a terrorist group,” amid previous accusations of complacency on antisemitism.
The problem has pushed a wedge within the left, with extra mainstream left-wing events accusing the far left of making an attempt to curry favor with French Muslims forward of the European election.
“There are robust divergences within the left, it’s an issue that the France Unbowed refuses to qualify the assaults as terrorism. It’s not acceptable, and it’s what has killed the Nupes alliance,” Socialist Senator Rachid Temal, close to the leftwing alliance that was fashioned forward of the elections in 2022, mentioned.
“We on the Socialist Get together have remained loyal to ourselves, we’ve condemned the assaults and we’re additionally calling for a cease-fire and the liberation of all of the hostages,” he mentioned.
Coverage in motion
However whether or not France has any affect on the battle is a completely completely different matter.
After the preliminary shock following the assaults, Macron has targeted a lot his consideration on the Palestinian plight, becoming a member of requires a cease-fire and boosting efforts to get much-needed help into the Gaza Strip. French diplomats mentioned the French president was ultimately returning to France’s historically “balanced” place on the battle, defending Israel’s proper to exist whereas maintaining shut ties with Arab nations.
On the humanitarian entrance, France took half in airdrops of provides in Gaza months earlier than the US, and deployed a helicopter service turned hospital ship to deal with wounded Palestinians evacuated to Egypt.
“We speak to all people, we’re the one nation that speaks to Iran, we communicate to individuals we don’t agree with, and we will cross on messages, one thing our allies respect,” says Benjamin Haddad, a lawmaker from Macron’s Renaissance occasion.
Paris additionally hosted two secret conferences between CIA Director Invoice Burns and intelligence officers from Egypt, Qatar and Israel to debate a cease-fire and liberating the remaining hostages. That’s proof, in line with a number of French officers, that France had some affect.
However with cease-fire talks floundering after which resuming, France’s diplomatic efforts seem to have contributed little, although no nation has been in a position to get Hamas and Israel to conform to a truce.
The Muslim holy month of Ramadan was seen as a window of alternative for a cease-fire. As an alternative Israeli forces are getting ready a floor offensive into Rafah within the south of the Gaza Strip, regardless of warnings that it may result in excessive civilian deaths.
The World Meals Group has additionally warned that components of the Palestinian enclave may spiral into full blown famine by Might. This week France, Jordan and Egypt issued a joint name for an “rapid cease-fire”, warning that famine “is already settling in”. However French diplomats admits Paris lacks clout, particularly given the present European divisions within the battle.
“We all know that no person besides the U.S. has affect on Israel and a direct entry to [the Israeli leader] Benjamin Netanyahu,” Vincent Martigny, a researcher, mentioned.
“The federal government’s place is geared toward a home viewers, at France,” he mentioned.
