President Isaac Herzog and his wife, Michal, met with the heads of the Jewish community in Paris on Monday.
“The Jewish community in France and the French community in Israel are a living bridge between our countries and peoples,” Herzog said. “[Sunday’s] ceremony in Toulouse in memory of the victims of the [terrorist] attack and the participation of three past and present French presidents is a living testimony. French President Emmanuel Macron is working hard both to strengthen the security of the State of Israel and in the fight against antisemitism in France and abroad.”
The meeting was also attended by emissaries of Zionist and Jewish organizations in France on behalf of Israel, Israeli Ambassador to France Yael German, Yamina MK Yomtob Kalfon, Labor MK Emilie Moatti, Shas MK Yosef Taieb and others.
The French Jewish community leaders spoke about their campaign against those who slander Israel and the rise in antisemitism on the streets of France.
This was further proof that the fight against antisemitism, anti-Zionism and anti-Israelism are necessary and cannot stop, Herzog said.
On Sunday, Herzog joined Macron at a memorial service in Toulouse, marking 10 years since the Toulouse and Montauban terrorist attacks.
“I want to thank you, Mr. President, dear Isaac, for having accepted my invitation to be here together with your wife at our side,” Macron said at the memorial service. “This is your first official visit in France, and your presence was at once obvious and an honor.
“We were there together to say to those who were attacked by barbarity that we support them. But we were also there to remind everyone together that France and Israel, Israel and France, are determined together to defeat terrorism in all its forms and on every front, and that together, we are determined to eliminate antisemitism, including when it hides behind the mask of anti-Zionism.
“In turn, therefore, Mr. President, I want to salute your role, your involvement for peace in the whole region, the courage you displayed in going to places where it seemed impossible you might go and your commitment, the commitment of your prime minister and your government in the name of peace, in the face of the war that Russia launched in Ukraine, in pursuit of mediation. And I want to tell you that France, as it has always done, will remain a stabilizing force for peace in the region, and peace will never come at the expense of the security of the State of Israel,” Macron said.