As in New York, Lisbon or Buenos Aires, the faces of hostages kidnapped by Hamas in Israel appear on the walls of Paris, a fleeting opportunity to “raise the awareness of the general public”.
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Fifteen days after the bloody attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement, the meeting is scheduled for Sunday at 10 p.m. at a location in the west of the capital.
“It remains important to alert public opinion, it is an alarm call,” argues Léa Hanoune, treasurer of the Union of Jewish Students of France (UEJF), which is coordinating the action: around a hundred participants, 30 cars, 4,000 posters, a more extensive and organized one Security service.
After the surroundings of Paris’s Tolbiac University the previous week, where “we felt it was important to raise our voices because there had been anti-Semitic messages,” the day’s destination was the 16th and 17th arrondissements in the western part of the capital.
“The aim is to raise public awareness, give the hostages a face and bring them to life. That doesn’t mean that it is Israel against Palestine, but that there are hostages and that it could be your father, your mother, your daughter,” adds Sophie Kijner, 31 years old, a member of the “October 7th Collective”. .
Founded in response to unprecedented attacks since the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, this group describes itself as “apolitical and an ardent defender of republican values and freedom.”
Around them, water and glue mix in 15 liter buckets. The students are joined by other activists, people of all ages, active young people with a “sense of duty” and a former member of the Éclaireurs Israelites de France with 2,500 posters under his arm.
On each of these inscriptions on a red background: “Kidnapped” and “Join them, they must come back alive”. Each one also has a name, a first name and a nationality.
Youthful smiles, graying hair, a little boy posing with a dog, all from their homes or in the middle of a rave party, as hundreds of Hamas fighters entered in vehicles, by sea and air, and under a barrage of rockets Israel invaded.
There are Israelis, Americans, Argentines and even French, “between 200 and 250,” according to Hamas, which claims 22 of them were killed in Israeli bombings.
“As a Jew, these are people who belong to my family, people who we want to see come back healthy,” says Raphaël, a 24-year-old computer scientist.
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“Sad and worried”
The collage campaign in France, which has Europe’s largest Jewish community of around 500,000 people, is intended to be a “forward” of what a small group of Israeli artists temporarily based in New York started, Aurélie told the AFP on Saturday by telephone Assouline, right-wing elected official from the 17th arrondissement and co-founder of the “7. October”.
According to Israeli authorities, more than 1,400 people were killed that day, with most civilians shot, burned alive or mutilated during the Hamas attack.
Witnessing the massacre from afar, this group wanted to contribute. Then these posters were born.
On Sunday they are displayed in their French version near a train station and parks, at bus stops or on the opulent facades of Haussmannian buildings between two embassies.
The team of Sarah Ouakil, vice-president of the UEJF, is busy near the Trocadéro, which is emptied of the usual tourists at this late hour. “We are sad and worried,” she says between two brush strokes.
The posters feature slogans saying that “defending the Palestinians” means “condemning Hamas.”
According to the Health Ministry of Hamas, which seized power in 2007, at least 4,651 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in the Gaza Strip in incessant retaliatory bombings by the Israeli army. Since then, the enclave has been subject to an Israeli blockade.
“The Palestinians are also under the yoke of Hamas. “We will not reach a peaceful solution if a terrorist group controls this area,” the young woman said before packing her things for another location.