Tribute to the French victims of Hamas: families welcome an initiative “which really touches us”

Caroline Baudry / Photo credit: LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP 2:03 p.m., February 7, 2024

It was with a serious air and dressed all in black that Emmanuel Macron entered the courtyard of the Invalides this Wednesday morning. It was there that the Head of State presided over the national tribute to the French victims of the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israeli territory on October 7. A republican ceremony, placed under the universal sign of the fight against anti-Semitism, and during which the Head of State paid a poignant tribute. 

One by one, 42 members of the Republican Guard also entered the courtyard, each carrying the portrait of one of the 42 victims. The Kaddish, a mourning song from the Jewish tradition, then resonated in the courtyard, performed by the musicians of the Republican Guard. All before the eyes of this Franco-Israeli who, before the ceremony, held the photo of her 23-year-old daughter, who disappeared at the Nova music festival, where Hamas terrorists caused numerous victims in the early morning of October 7. 

“We still don’t believe what happened” 

“Making a tribute like this for the families is something that really touches us. It was the right time to do it,” she said. The sister of Frenchwoman Karine Journo, 24, shares the same feeling. "Since October 7, we have no longer been the same family. Every day, we have this pain. We wake up, we go to bed, but we still don't believe what happened. I think it's a "It's a huge honor that they haven't forgotten us by doing this ceremony. The flight here, the security, the hotel... Everything was very good." 

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