The presidency is trying to deflate the controversy which is rising this Friday, December 8 among part of the political class. A Hanouka candle was lit in front of Emmanuel Macron this Thursday evening at the Élysée. Some see this as non-compliance with the 1905 law on secularism which separates the Churches from the State.
Try to defuse criticism. The Chief Rabbi of France Haïm Korsia lit the first candle of Hanouka this Thursday evening at the Élysée, this religious festival widely followed by the Jewish community, under the gaze of Emmanuel Macron. A gesture criticized by a large part of the left but also the RN which is annoyed by a “violation of secularism”.
We did not have a Hanukkah ceremony. The context is very important,” the head of state’s entourage further assures BFMTV.
“Secularism is not the negation of religion. It is separating the action and management of the State from religion,” adds one of his close friends.
The Élysée recalls Macron’s speech during Collomb’s religious funeral
Emmanuel Macron received the annual Lord Jakobovits prize from the Conference of European Rabbis on Thursday evening, which rewards the fight against anti-Semitism and the safeguarding of religious freedoms. Angela Merkel received the same distinction in 2013, when she was chancellor of Germany, and the King of Spain Felipe in 2016.
Obviously keen to ease the pressure in a tense political context, two months after the start of Hamas’s attacks against Israel, the Élysée recalls the presence of Emmanuel Macron in Lyon for the funeral of Gérard Collomb last week.
Borne sees it as a “signal” of “support” for the Jewish community
The head of state gave a long speech of tribute to his former minister and former mayor of Lyon in the Saint-Jean cathedral in Lyon. Of many political figures were outraged of this sequence and criticize him for not having respected the principle of secularism and in particular the law of 1905 on the separation of Churches and State in France.
Élisabeth Borne also defended the president during his trip to Mayotte.
“We are in a period with a rise in anti-Semitism that we cannot let pass. There are different ways of sending messages (of support) to the Jewish community,” said the Prime Minister, seeing this as “a signal”.
“A mistake” for the president of Crif
Yonathan Arfi, the president of Crif (Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France), for his part considered that celebrating Hanouka at the Éysée was “a mistake”.
If this is not the first time that Emmanuel Macron has received representatives of religions at the Élysée, the presence of political leaders during events is traditionally outside the walls of the presidency. For example, the president went several times to break the fast for Ramadan.