Édouard Philippe, Gabriel Attal and François Hollande visit an exhibition in tribute to the victims of October 7

Politicians and anonymous visitors gathered on Wednesday at the “memorial pavilion” installed in Paris by the Crif (Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France) in tribute to the victims of October 7, noted AFP journalists. Former Prime Ministers Gabriel Attal then Édouard Philippe were the first to go under the marquee installed on Tuesday at Place des Vosges, in the center of the capital, in memory of the attacks perpetrated by Hamas in Israel on October 7, 2023.

After the President of the National Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet and her Senate counterpart Gérard Larcher, other political figures, including the former President of the Republic François Hollande in particular, were expected during the day. The exhibition October 7, three years later returns until Thursday to what Crif president Yonathan Arfi described as “trauma for all French people of the Jewish faith”, Wednesday on France info.

A house with walls riddled with bullets, survivors returning to the Nir Oz kibbutz, a rocking horse in front of the house of the Bibas family (who died in captivity after October 7): photos and portraits follow one another in the first sequences. Two sculptures by Gérard Garouste, drawings as well as films, including one in 3D in the kibbutz of Beeri, complete this exhibition visited in silence by dozens of people, some of whom light a candle as they exit.

“Very hard to immerse yourself in these images”

“I’m Jewish and I can’t get over it,” Claire (those interviewed preferred to remain anonymous), 54, explains to AFP, “upset” by these photos which “awaken everything that has emerged since October 7.” She deplores the climate that has reigned since that date: “I am held accountable for what is happening in Israel, which is absolutely not normal. I am fundamentally French,” she adds, also regretting that “the publicity was very discreet” around this exhibition.

“In fact, it is the Jewish community that is mobilizing,” says Hubert, 64, who would also have liked greater mobilization. “In commemoration and remembrance, there is something that says a lot about the fear” of the Jewish community, adds this visitor who found “very hard to immerse yourself in these images”.

The unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement caused the deaths of 1,221 people, including 51 French people, according to an AFP count. The offensive launched in retaliation by Israel in Gaza left more than 74,200 dead, according to the Ministry of Health of the Palestinian territory, placed under the authority of Hamas and whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.