” A mistake “. This is what the president of Crif (Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France), Yonathan Arfi, estimated this Friday morning regarding the celebration of the start of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah Thursday evening at the Elysée, in the presence by Emmanuel Macron. 20 minutes returns to this event which fuels the controversy.
Facts
Haïm Korsia, the chief rabbi of France, lit the first candle at the Elysée on Thursday evening to mark the start of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah. In videos posted on social networks, we see the rabbi lighting the first candle. Haïm Korsia then asks the President of the Republic for authorization to sing Maoz Tsour, the song of Hannouka. The rabbi then intones the first verse, accompanied by the audience.
On the other hand, if Radio Shalom indicates that “the President of the Republic lit a candle in memory of the victims of the massacres of October 7”, nothing in the video can confirm such a gesture on the part of the head of state.
Why was there a ceremony at the Elysée?
Emmanuel Macron received the annual prize from the European Conference of Rabbis on Thursday which rewards the fight against anti-Semitism and the safeguarding of religious freedoms. On this occasion, the president promised to set “in the coming weeks” the date of a tribute to the victims of the Hamas attack on October 7 in Israel, saying he had to wait because families “still have hostages.”
What were the reactions?
“Indeed, it is not the place within the Elysée to light a Hanukkah candle because the Republican DNA is to stay away from anything religious,” said Yonathan Arfi, the president. du Crif, at the microphone of Sud Radio, Friday morning. Conversely, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne saw in this gesture a “signal” of “support” in the face of “the rise of anti-Semitism”. For Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, Emmanuel Macron has committed “no violation of secularism”.
The images of the lighting of the candle provoked several political reactions, notably on the left: the national secretary for secularism of the Socialist Party Jérôme Guedj thus estimated on of Hanukkah), like any religious manifestation.” “Hanukkah at the Elysée! Soon Easter, Eid? », Added LFI deputy François Ruffin on X.
Mendel Samama, rabbi in Strasbourg, who was present at the Elysée, published a photo of a Christmas tree installed in the presidential palace. “There is also a Christmas tree… I assure you,” he commented.
