Macron, Netanyahu mark 75th anniversary of French Jew deportation

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French President Emmanuel Macron and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday commemorated the victims of a mass arrest of Jews in Nazi-occupied France 75 years ago.

A ceremony was held near the former site of the Velodrome d'Hiver in central Paris, an indoor cycle track where 13,152 Jews, including about 4,000 children, were rounded up on July 16-17, 1942. They were then deported by train, mostly to Auschwitz concentration camp. Fewer than 100 survived.

Jewish deportees in the Drancy transit camp in France, their last stop before German concentration camps, 1942. /VCG Photo

Netanyahu, who arrived in the French capital on Saturday night, became the first Israeli prime minister to attend the Velodrome d'Hiv commemorations.

Commenting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after talks with Netanyahu, Macron reaffirmed France's support for a two-state solution.

'It was France that organized' the mass arrest

Speaking at the ceremony, Macron called France's responsibility for the tragedy a "stark truth."

"It was indeed France that organized" the roundup, he said. "Not a single German" took part.

But police archives from World War Two indicate it was Nazi Germany that ordered the Vichy government of France to arrest the Jews, according to a BBC report in 2012.

"The occupying authorities," Memo 173-42, which is dated 13 July, 1942 and marked "secret", reads, "have decided upon the arrest and grouping together of a certain number of foreign Jews."

The operation was recorded in detail by the head of the Paris police at the time.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu places a wreath of flowers during a ceremony commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Vel d'Hiv roundup in Paris, France on July 16, 2017. /Reuters Photo

"I'm here to mourn the victims," Netanyahu told the crowd who attended the ceremony.

"Seventy-five years ago, a heavy darkness descended on this city... It seems the values of the French Revolution – equality, fraternity, liberty – was crushed brutally under the boot of anti-Semitism," he added.

The Israeli prime minister also warned against the dangers of modern extremism, stressing that "militants of Islam want to destroy our common civilization."

French President Emmanuel Macron (R2) greets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R3) as he arrives at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France on July 16, 2017. /Reuters Photo

Netanyahu's presence 'unacceptable'

However, both the history of Velodrome d'Hiv deportation and Netanyahu's attendance at the ceremony are highly controversial in France.

Marine Le Pen, Macron's far-right rival in the presidential election earlier this year, suggested in April that France was not responsible for the tragedy.

And some have accused the Israeli prime minister of politicizing the ceremony. "The presence of Netanyahu makes me a little uneasy," Elie Barnavi, a former Israeli ambassador to France, told AFP. "This story has nothing to do with Israel."

The Union of French Jews for Peace called Macron's invitation of Netanyahu "shocking" and "unacceptable," accusing the Israel government of attempting to "make people believe that Israel represents all the world's Jews."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L2) and French President Emmanuel Macron (R2) pay their respects during a ceremony commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Vel d'Hiv roundup in Paris, France on July 16, 2017. /VCG Photo

Macron reiterates support for two-state solution

After the ceremony, Netanyahu held talks with the French president and tried to test the waters on Macron's policies toward the Middle East, while Macron called for a resumption of long-stalled peace talks based on a two-state solution.

"France is ready to support all diplomatic efforts towards this end within the parameters of peace recognized by the international community," Macron said after talks with the Israeli prime minister.

He said Israelis and Palestinians should be able "to live side by side within secure and recognized borders with Jerusalem as the capital."

Stressing that international law should be "respected by all," Macron said he was referring to Israel's "continued building of settlements" in occupied Palestinian territory, a policy opposed by France.

Netanyahu arrived in France just after a surge of violence in Israel, where a gun attack by three Arab Israelis in Jerusalem's Old City Friday left two Israeli police officers and the attackers dead.

"In terms of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, France's position is still quite vague," Jean-Paul Chagnollaud, a researcher who specializes on the Palestinian issue, told AFP.

Macron met Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday, when he reiterated both France's support for a two-state solution to end the Middle East conflict, and its opposition to Israel's building of settlements in occupied Palestinian territory.

But it is not yet clear whether Macron will follow the pro-active line taken by his Socialist predecessor Francois Hollande, whose efforts to mobilize the international community on the question angered Israel.

Talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been at a standstill since the failure of US mediation in the spring of 2014.

(With inputs from AFP)

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