Israel-Hamas war: Why France is seeing a big fallout from conflict

One country has witnessed a huge fallout of the Israel-Hamas war – France. The country with the largest Jewish population in Western Europe, on its highest alert since 2015, has seen 19 of its citizens killed and 13 others missing in the conflict. France has seen over 100 antisemitic incidents since the Hamas attack on Israel, banned pro-Palestinian demonstration and also witnessed its airports, the Palace of Versailles and the Louvre Museum being evacuated multiple times after bomb threats were called in. Let’s take a closer look at what is happening in France and why: Evacuations galore after bomb threats As per The Guardian, France remains on high alert for a terror attack – its highest level since the terror attacks in 2015 – following Hamas’s 7 October attack on Israel and Friday’s fatal stabbing of a teacher in the northern city of Arras by a man claiming allegiance to the Islamic State group. Wednesday alone France saw six of its airports evacuated after emailed “threats of attack”. The evacuations at Lille, Lyon, Nantes, Nice, Toulouse and Beauvais airport near Paris would allow authorities to “clear up any doubts” that the threats might be real, the source said. A spokesman for France’s DGAC aviation authority confirmed evacuations over bomb warnings only at Lille, Lyon, Toulouse and Beauvais, and was unable to give further details immediately. The Palace of Versailles, one of France’s most visited tourist attractions, was evacuated Tuesday because of a security scare for the second time in four days, with France on heightened alert against feared attacks after the fatal stabbing of a school teacher. The former royal palace’s account on X, formerly known as Twitter, said: “For security reasons, the Palace of Versailles is evacuating visitors and closing its doors today Tuesday October 17. Thank you for your understanding.”

The palace was reopened following a police inspection.

The vast Versailles palace was the home of King Louis XVI before his decapitation during the French Revolution. It will be one of the venues for the Paris Olympics next year, hosting horse riding. [caption id=“attachment_13267532” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] The Palace of Versailles, one of the most popular tourist destinations in France, was shuttered on Tuesday yet again. Reuters[/caption] The palace as well as the Louvre Museum in Paris were also evacuated on Saturday after receiving bomb threats. Alarms rang out through the Louvre when the evacuation was announced, and in the underground shopping center beneath its signature pyramid. Paris police said officers searched the museum after it received written bomb threats. The Louvre communication service said no one was hurt and no bomb was found. The Louvre, home to masterpieces such as the Mona Lisa, welcomes between 30,000 and 40,000 visitors per day and several million annually. A major Paris train station, Gare de Lyon, was also evacuated after the discovery of a possible bottle explosive. Troops mobilised, over two dozen arrested for antisemitic acts Earlier Saturday, Macron’s office announced the mobilization of 7,000 soldiers by Monday night, after the government heightened the national threat alert in the wake of the school attack in the northern city of Arras. The “attack emergency” threat posture allows the government to temporarily deploy extra troops to protect public places, among other measures. The French government has reported 24 arrests for more than 100 antisemitic acts in France since Hamas attacked Israel on Saturday, including verbal abuse, people caught with knives near Jewish schools and synagogues and a drone equipped with a camera spotted over a Jewish cultural center.

More than 2,000 cases of antisemitic speech have been reported to an online watchdog force.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the government aimed to avert with heightened police protection of Jewish sites, including schools and synagogues. “It’s important that all French people of Jewish faith know they are protected,” Darmanin said as he and Education Minister Gabriel Attal visited a Jewish school near Paris. Some 10,000 police are protecting 500 sites, Darmanin said. Politico quoted Darmanin as saying over 100 antisemitic acts had occurred since the Hamas attack. Most of these involved graffiti displaying “swastikas, ‘death to Jews,’ calls to intifadas against Israel.” Attal said pupils of Jewish faith had faced problems in their schools, including a pupil in the wider Paris region who had been attacked by fellow pupils who ripped his t-shirt. Any such incidents would be referred to judicial authorities, he said. [caption id=“attachment_13246252” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] People gather outside the European Council Monday, Oct. 9, 2023 in Strasbourg, eastern France, two days after Hamas’s attack on Israel. AP[/caption] France’s culture minister has vowed not to give in to terror. The Guardian quoted Rima Abdul Malak as saying, “Maximum security is in place; we will not give in to terror. “There are wonderful exhibitions everywhere and it has always been France’s strength to maintain a cultural life. It’s a way of affirming our attachment to the values of the republic.” Macron pleads for unity, France bans pro-Palestinian protests President Emmanuel Macron has urged French people not to allow the war in West Asia to erupt into tensions at home. ’’Let us not bring ideological adventures here (to France) by imitation or by projection. Let us not add national fractures … to international fractures,″ Macron pleaded. “Let us stay united.″ Macron pledged that France would protect its Jewish citizens and be ’’ruthless toward all those who bear hate,″ and noted concerns about hostility toward France’s Muslims too.

France has also banned all pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

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In Paris police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse pro-Palestinian protesters who had defied a ban and demonstrated Thursday against the Israeli government. Darmanin sent a directive to local prefects on Thursday, seen by The Associated Press, calling for a further tightening of security around Jewish schools, synagogues and other sites. It said pro-Palestinian demonstrations should be banned and those who defy bans should be arrested “because they are susceptible to disrupt public order.” Pro-Palestinian associations decried the move. The National Collective for a Fair and Lasting Peace between Palestinians and Israelis said it ‘’denounces this threat to freedom of expression,’’ and pledged to continue holding actions to support the Palestinian people. At the banned Paris protest Thursday, protesters draped Palestinian flags around their shoulders, and ‘’Free Palestine’’ was sprayed on the monument underpinning Republic Plaza in eastern Paris. Many chanted “We are all Palestinians.’’ Earlier this week, thousands of people marched in Paris in support of Israel, and the Eiffel Tower was lit up with a Star of David and the blue and white of the Israeli flag. Other European cities have seen pro-Palestinian demonstrations in recent days as well as pro-Israeli gatherings. Denouncing Hamas as a terrorist group, Macron called for peace efforts that would ensure both Israel’s security and a Palestinian state. [caption id=“attachment_13255972” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] French president Emmanuel Macron has pleaded for unity.. AP[/caption] “Those who confuse the Palestinian cause with justifying terrorism are committing a moral, political and strategic error,″ he said. Macron also sought to address the concerns of French-Israeli families whose loved ones have disappeared and are believed kidnapped or killed by Hamas. Struggling to speak as they sobbed or choked back tears, family members of missing French citizens pleaded Thursday at a news conference in Tel Aviv for help from Macron. “We will do everything so that these hostages, regardless of their nationality, are freed,″ Macron vowed. Why is this happening? Fighting in the West Asia in the past has led to tensions in France, which is estimated to have the world’s third-largest Jewish population after Israel and the US, and the largest Muslim population in Western Europe. Political historian Jean Garrigues told Bloomberg that France is more susceptible than its neighbours to such developments in West Asia for myriad reasons. Among these are resentment for France’s colonial past, Muslims in France wrestling with secularism which many of them see as a way to single them out and a powerful Jewish community.

“The Palestinian cause has become a banner for Muslims in France,” Garrigues told Bloomberg.

Nagib Azergui, the head of the small Union of French Muslim Democrats party told the outlet the ban on pro-Palestinian demonstrations doesn’t help because “it reveals the sympathies of the government and creates fractures within society.” Bartender Yanis Kassed, who is from a café in Paris’ Barbes, an area which many Muslims call home, told Bloomberg he’s thinking of moving back to Algeria. His reason for moving to the land of his ancestors? “France is supposed to be the country of Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite but we Muslims have no freedom nor are we treated equally since we can’t even support Palestine,” he said. “Things have become so complicated for everyone that the motto that was France’s pride is disappearing.” Jewish students put up posters of hostages France’s main Jewish students union has plastered walls around Paris with posters bearing the faces of French citizens believed to be held hostage by Hamas in their war with Israel. The word “Kidnapped” is inscribed on a red banner at the top of each photograph. The students’ action in Paris follows a similar campaign by Jews in London, where hundreds of volunteers recently posted fliers around the city bearing images of British citizens believed to have been taken hostage. The images, featuring children, were placed widely to publicize the details of the atrocity beyond the Jewish community, organisers told Jewish News, an online newspaper. In a sign of growing contention over the war, two robed women were seen in videos posted online last weekend angrily ripping the posters down. The French Jewish students union, known as UEJF, says that people are flirting with danger if the plight of Jews in France — and elsewhere — is not shared by all. “This isn’t about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It’s a question of a terror organization that is attacking a free and democratic state,” said Samuel Lejoyeux, president of the UEJF, glancing at the more than 50 posters on the walls near the Institute of Medicine on the Left Bank. [caption id=“attachment_13246242” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Protestors holding Palestinian flags during a demonstration in France. Reuters[/caption] The union has mainly targeted universities, where debate over the war has been heated — with one professor recently disciplined for expressing support of Hamas. Sylvie Retailleau, France’s minister for higher education, has taken aim at professors and others in university circles for straying from France’s pro-Israel position in the war. Two days after Hamas militants attacked Israel, Retailleau pinned a letter on the platform X addressed to university presidents telling them to take disciplinary — and legal — measures against those who break French law, including taking cases to prosecutors. “It’s not a Jewish question. Everyone needs to act and be with us,” Lejoyeux, the student union leader, said. He claimed that a minority of people see expressions of solidarity for Israel as “an act of Zionism.” “It isn’t simply the Jews who are targeted, it is the values of democracy and freedom that France has in common with Israel,” Lejoyeux said. With inputs from agencies