MEETINGS

Three receptions that will help you get a better understanding of current affairs.
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© Mustafa Hassouna / AFP

FRIDAY 11 OCTOBER – 9 pm

Special correspondent’s reception – SCAM

Middle East: from one 7 October to the next. One year to the day

At dawn on 7 October 2023, in the middle of the Sabbath and during the Jewish festival of Simhat Torah, fifty years after the start of the Yom Kippur War, a sky of rockets fired from Gaza rained down on Israel. By sea, land and air, Hamas fighters take Israeli soldiers by surprise. In the towns of Sderot, Ofakim and around Ashkelon, women, children and the elderly were indiscriminately massacred. 240 people of all nationalities were taken hostage and taken to Gaza.
The very next day, the Israeli army retaliated with air strikes and non-stop ground fighting. The day after, on 10 October, Israel, through the voice of its prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, announced a complete siege of the Gaza Strip. No water, no electricity, no food – everything was cut off. Months of non-stop fire. Innocent civilians killed, journalists too.
Cessation of fire, humanitarian truce, negotiations for the release of hostages, denunciation of crimes against humanity, the voices of international geopolitics failed to produce convincing results. A few ephemeral humanitarian corridors, some hostages freed but others dead, and still the strikes on Gaza.
The conflict has spread as far as southern Lebanon with Hezbollah and, behind the scenes, Iran, and as far as France on the benches of the National Assembly with members of parliament draped in the Palestinian flag. The UN Security Council and the European Union are calling for a halt to the fighting, but the battlefield remains deaf to these injunctions.
Violence blinds. Suffering and pain prevent reflection. Cries of anger and hatred fill the air. We are saturated with images of horror and desolation. From one 7 October to the next, are we plunged into a never-ending conflict?
An evening of stories from the leading reporters who have been covering this conflict since 7 October, whose knowledge and personal accounts will reveal the complexities of a reality on the ground that is hard to pin down.

An evening prepared and animated by Eric Valmir

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Pavillon
Place Gauquelin Despallières
Doors open at 8 pm
Free Admission

This evening is realized thanks to the support of :