#Crif - Demonstration to support Israel and Jerusalem

With many flags and protest panels, the crowd listened to the various speakers. Among them were multi-faith groups, including a group of Christians from the Netherlands, and the Armenian friends of Israel.

The event began with the lyrics of Herbert Pagani's "Plaidoyer pour ma terre". This text, was written in November 1975, after the UN vote of resolution 3379 of the UN General Assembly that states "Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination". Everyone noted that this text of more than 40 years is unfortunately always of burning actuality.

Francis Kalifat, President of the Crif, took the floor to express criticism of the Paris Conference. He returned to the hypocritical votes of France at UNESCO and the Executive Council of the UN that have not hesitated to question 3000 years of Jewish history of Jerusalem. "We have expressed to the Government and to the President of the Republic our indignation that France has been able to vote for these texts, or to refrain from doing so. He then insisted on the only method that will allow peace, namely the direct discussion between the parties. He ended his speech by quoting the late Elie Wiesel: "A Jew may be a Jew far from Jerusalem, but not without Jerusalem." A Jew may not live in Jerusalem, but Jerusalem lives in every Jew. He concluded on the motives of this gathering "It is to say to Israel that we are in solidarity, to tell the 70 governments that Jerusalem lives in us and that we will never abandon it."

Ariel Goldmann, President of the FSJU, explained why the Paris Conference was a sham. Joel Mergui, President of the Consistory, recalled the love and attachment of the Jews to Israel and Jerusalem. A message from Mrs. Jacqueline Cuche, president of the Jewish-Christian friendship, in which she expressed the friendship and support of the Christians to the Jews and Israel, was then read.

Pierre Lellouche, former minister, deputy and city councilor of Paris, then expressed why he supported the two-state solution while strongly criticizing French diplomacy.

Meyer Habib, Deputy of the 8th constituency from abroad, representing the French of the Mediterranean basin (including French nationals living in Israel), has fiercely expressed his criticism of an iniquitous conference aimed at criticizing Israel, while so many conflicts would have deserved a meeting and criticism of the nations of the world, such as the conflict in Syria or the genocide of Christians and Yezidis in Iraq and Syria.

Claude Goasguen, deputy mayor of the 16th arrondissement of Paris, stressed that the preamble for two-state peace was not yet fulfilled for the Palestinians.

Colonel Richard Kemp, Commander of the British force in Afghanistan, and head of the fact-finding mission on the Gaza conflict in 2008/2009, recalled the human and democratic values ​​of Israel and the attachment of Jews and Christians to Jerusalem and the land of the Bible.

Finally, HE Aliza Bin Noun, Ambassador of Israel to France, thanked the Crif and the associations that had joined the call to express support for Israel and Jerusalem. She was in Israel the previous week during the bombing in which 4 young people were brutally mowed by a ram truck. Ambassador Bin Noun recalled that the conditions of peace could not be met as long as the murderers were congratulated and their families paid for acts of terrorism.

The gathering concluded with the song of the Hatikva then the Marseillaise.

More : Rassemblement de soutien à Israel 15 janvier 2017 - Aliza Bin Noun - Rassemblement de soutien à Israel - Allocution de Francis Kalifat