October 7 massacre: Emmanuel Macron promises to “fight anti-Semitism”, “everywhere and always”

Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday saluted the memory of the victims of October 7, three years after the “barbaric terrorist attacks of Hamas” in Israel, promising to “fight anti-Semitism”, “everywhere and always”.

“Three years that we have shared the pain of the State of Israel and the bereaved families. Three years later, we have forgotten neither the names nor the faces: those of Maya, Ohad, Valentin, and so many others,” the French president wrote on the X network.

“Fighting anti-Semitism and terrorism, everywhere and always, working for peace and security for all: this is France’s commitment,” he added.

The unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Israel on October 7, 2023, was the deadliest day in the country's history. It led to the death of 1,221 people, according to an AFP count. That day, 251 people were also kidnapped and forcibly taken to Gaza, 44 of them already dead.

The French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot is in Israel on Wednesday for the commemorations, as well as the candidate of the Les Républicains party for the spring presidential election, Bruno Retailleau.