Posted on 12/08/2023 11:18:25 PM PST by RandFan
Emmanuel Macron has been accused of betraying the French Republic after he took part in a Jewish ceremony inside his official residence, the Elysée Palace.
In a country where the separation of religion is itself a religion, the lighting of a Hanukkah candle inside the historic Salle des Fêtes on Thursday was immediately denounced by politicians of both right and left.
The president had invited France's Chief Rabbi Haïm Korsia to light the first of eight candles on a Hanukkiah, or candelabra, marking the start of the Jewish festival of lights. The occasion was the award to President Macron of a prize for his efforts against antisemitism.
But when video of the ceremony appeared shortly afterwards on social media, there was furore.
For French opinion-formers of all stripes, the president had committed an enormous faux-pas by allowing religion into the secular hallows of the presidency.
"As far as I know this is the first time this has ever happened. It is a breach of secularism," said David Lisnard, a prominent right-wing opposition figure who is also mayor of Cannes.
"The Elysée is not a place of religion. You cannot compromise with secularism," said the Socialist president of the Occitania region, Carole Delga.
"Will Macron now do the same for other religions? Some yes, some no? It's a dangerous spiral," said Alexis Corbière of the far-left France Unbowed.
Even some French Jews were perplexed. "This is something that shouldn't be allowed to happen again," said Yonathan Arfi who heads the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (Crif).
"French Jews have always considered secularism as a law of protection and of freedom. Anything that weakens secularism weakens Jews," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
Amazing that 230+ years on, the freemasonic mentality of 1789 still prevails ...
But we’ll see how it goes after the Muzzies take over.
If it were muslim he would be applauded
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