Emmanuel Macron has been accused of betraying France because he joined in a Jewish ceremony at his official home, the Elysée Palace.
In a country where people believe strongly in keeping religion separate, lighting a Hanukkah candle in a historic meeting hall caused a lot of disagreement among politicians from all sides.
The president asked France’s top Rabbi Haïm Korsia to light the first candle on a special candelabra to start the Jewish festival called Hanukkah. President Macron received an award for working against antisemitism.
But when a video of the ceremony showed up on social media soon after, there was a lot of anger and excitement.
French people with influence and opinions were upset because the president made a big mistake by bringing religion into the secular aspects of the presidency.
To my knowledge, this has never happened before. “David Lisnard, who is a well-known right-wing leader and mayor of Cannes, says it goes against secularism. ”
The Elysée is not a religious place. Secularism is non-negotiable,” said Occitania region’s Socialist president, Carole Delga.
“Will Macron do this for other religions too. Some yes, some no. That’s risky,” said Alexis Corbière from the far-left France Unbowed.
Even some Jewish people in France were confused. Yonathan Arfi, who leads the French Jewish Council, said that this should not happen again.
French Jews have always seen secularism as a way to protect and have freedom. He said that anything that makes secularism less strong also makes Jews less strong.
The concept of “secularism” became a part of French law in 1905 after a long battle between the government and the Roman Catholic Church. It allowed people to believe what they want, but no longer allowed the government to be involved with the Church or show any signs of religion in public places.
The law is very important in France. It makes sure that everyone is treated the same no matter what religion they follow. It also says that people are seen as individuals and not just as part of a group.
Critics will see Emmanuel Macron breaking a long-standing rule as proof of his big ego and feeling like he is above everyone else.
On Friday, the president visited Notre-Dame cathedral and said he was not sorry for inviting the chief rabbi. He said it was all about unity and peace.
“If the president had participated in a religious act or ceremony, it would have broken the rule of separating religion from government. ” “He said that’s not what happened. ”
The gesture comes after a long series of political events about Gaza, where President Macron has been criticized for making policy decisions without proper planning.
Critics think he has not been clear about his position on the war. Sometimes he seems to support Israel a lot, and other times he tries really hard to make Arab people happy. He does this because he wants to keep both the Jewish and Muslim people in France happy.
Not long after October 7th, Mr. Macron went to Israel and suggested a group of countries join together to fight against Hamas, similar to the coalition that defeated Islamic State (IS).
He was accused of not supporting Palestinians in France and then he arranged a conference to help Gaza, but Israel wasn’t asked to come.
He made some Jews even more upset by not going to a march against antisemitism. In an interview on the BBC, he talked about babies being bombed by the Israeli air force.
Some people think that the recent action at the Elysée shows a new way of governing the country.
In France’s foreign ministry, professional diplomats are frustrated because they feel like they are not being listened to by President Macron.
“One day, Macron is about to say he will assist the Israeli army in destroying Gaza. ” Two weeks later, a former diplomat said on the BBC that Israel kills babies.
“Alright, we understand that it’s all about internal politics. ” But here, he’s pushing away the Muslims and then the Jews.