Current:Home > FinanceJewish students plaster Paris walls with photos of French citizens believed held hostage by Hamas-LoTradeCoin
Jewish students plaster Paris walls with photos of French citizens believed held hostage by Hamas
View Date:2024-12-23 18:51:15
PARIS (AP) — France’s main Jewish students union has plastered walls around Paris with posters bearing the faces of French citizens believed to be held hostage by Hamas in their war with Israel. The word “Kidnapped” is inscribed on a red banner at the top of each photograph.
Very little is known about the hostages locked away in the Gaza Strip or whether some of those captured during the Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel have been killed in the Jewish state’s brutal counter-offensive. An Israeli military spokesman on Monday upped the number of hostages to 199, but did not specify whether that number includes foreigners.
Some households in France, which has the largest Jewish population in western Europe, have taken a direct hit from the Israel-Hamas war. French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said Sunday during a visit to Israel that 19 French citizens are known to have been killed and 13 others are missing.
The students’ action in Paris follows a similar campaign by Jews in London, where hundreds of volunteers recently posted fliers around the city bearing images of British citizens believed to have been taken hostage.
The images, featuring children, were placed widely to publicize the details of the atrocity beyond the Jewish community, organizers told Jewish News, an online newspaper. In a sign of growing contention over the war, two robed women were seen in videos posted online last weekend angrily ripping the posters down.
The French Jewish students union, known as UEJF, says that people are flirting with danger if the plight of Jews in France — and elsewhere — is not shared by all.
“This isn’t about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It’s a question of a terror organization that is attacking a free and democratic state,” said Samuel Lejoyeux, president of the UEJF, glancing at the more than 50 posters on the walls near the Institute of Medicine on the Left Bank.
The union has mainly targeted universities, where debate over the war has been heated — with one professor recently disciplined for expressing support of Hamas.
Sylvie Retailleau, France’s minister for higher education, has taken aim at professors and others in university circles for straying from France’s pro-Israel position in the war.
Two days after Hamas militants attacked Israel, Retailleau pinned a letter on the platform X addressed to university presidents telling them to take disciplinary — and legal — measures against those who break French law, including taking cases to prosecutors.
“It’s not a Jewish question. Everyone needs to act and be with us,” Lejoyeux, the student union leader, said. He claimed that a minority of people see expressions of solidarity for Israel as “an act of Zionism.”
“It isn’t simply the Jews who are targeted, it is the values of democracy and freedom that France has in common with Israel,” Lejoyeux said.
__
Danika Kirka in London and Nicola Garriga in Paris contributed.
veryGood! (77)
Related
- US overdose deaths are down, giving experts hope for an enduring decline
- Leaving Caitlin Clark off Olympic team, USA Basketball airballs on huge opportunity
- Amid Record-Breaking Heat Wave, Researchers Step Up Warnings About Risks Extreme Temperatures Pose to Children
- Taylor Swift pauses Scotland Eras Tour show until 'the people in front of me get help'
- Wisconsin agency issues first round of permits for Enbridge Line 5 reroute around reservation
- Woman who made maps for D-Day landings receives France's highest honor
- Who are the 4 hostages rescued by Israeli forces from captivity in Gaza?
- Overnight fire damages or destroys about 15 boats at a Nevada marina
- Lou Donaldson, jazz saxophonist who blended many influences, dead at 98
- Republican challenger to Tester leans into his outsider status in Montana U.S. Senate debate
Ranking
- Teachers in 3 Massachusetts communities continue strike over pay, paid parental leave
- Methodist church regrets Ivory Coast’s split from the union as lifting of LGBTQ ban roils Africa
- Josh Maravich, son of Basketball Hall of Famer Pete Maravich, dies at 42
- 35 children among those killed in latest Sudan civil war carnage, U.N. says
- Falling scaffolding plank narrowly misses pedestrians at Boston’s South Station
- Martha’s Vineyard is about to run out of pot. That’s led to a lawsuit and a scramble by regulators
- Lainey Wilson inducted into the Grand Ole Opry by Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood
- Iga Swiatek routs Jasmine Paolini to win third straight French Open title
Recommendation
-
Worker trapped under rubble after construction accident in Kentucky
-
BBC Presenter Dr. Michael Mosley Found Dead at 67 on Greek Island
-
Khloe Kardashian Reveals Surprising Word 22-Month-Old Son Tatum Has Learned to Say
-
Vermont police department apologizes after visiting students witness simulated robbery, shooting
-
The Stanley x LoveShackFancy Collaboration That Sold Out in Minutes Is Back for Part 2—Don’t Miss Out!
-
Arizona closes Picacho Peak State Park after small plane crash that killed pilot
-
A Christian group teaches public school students during the school day. Their footprint is growing
-
Methodist church regrets Ivory Coast’s split from the union as lifting of LGBTQ ban roils Africa