President Emmanuel Macron honoured the 42 French victims of the October 7 attacks by Hamas in Israel, in a ceremony that largely blocked out the conflict in Gaza.
The moving commemoration was about displaying the importance of fighting anti-Semitism in France, where attacks against Jews have sharply risen since October 7.
Mr Macron described the attack by Hamas, which killed about 1,200 people, as "barbarism, which is fed by anti-Semitism and propagates it", vowing not to give in to "rampant and uninhibited anti-Semitism".
In an apparent reference to those killed in Gaza in Israel's retaliatory offensive, Mr Macron told the crowd: “Their destinies are not the only ones that the tearing of the Middle East continues to crush in this tornado of suffering that is war.
“And all lives are equal, priceless in the eyes of France.
"Never, within us, will we allow the spirit of revenge to prosper."
At the large Invalides courtyard in Paris, relatives of those killed stood behind Mr Macron, holding pictures and banners.
Images were also held up by members of the presidential guard as their families looked on, in the only such state event held outside Israel so far to mark the October 7 attacks.
A violinist played French composer Maurice Ravel's instrumental version of the Jewish kaddish prayer as the victims' names flashed up on a screen. The ceremony was broadcast live in Tel Aviv.
Mr Macron compared the October 7 events to terrorist attacks that have rocked France in the past years, including a July 14, 2016, attack in the southern city of Nice in which 86 people were killed.
"Our hearts sink to the echoes of the Bataclan, Nice or Strasbourg," he said.
100 days of Israel Gaza war - in pictures
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Palestinian Muhammad Al Durra with his children in the ruins of a house in Rafah where they sheltered on January 11, 2024. EPA -
Family and friends at the funerals of journalists Hamza Al Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuraya on January 7, 2024 in Rafah, Gaza. Getty Images -
Palestinians mourn relatives killed by Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip outside a mortuary in Khan Younis January 4, 2024. AP Photo -
Displaced Palestinians queue to bake bread at a camp in the Muwasi area of Rafah, Gaza Strip, on December 23, 2023. AP Photo -
Palestinians queue for food in Rafah, the Gaza Strip, on December 20, 2023. AP Photo -
The ruins of Rafah on December 14, 2023. AFP -
Palestinians wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip arrive at a hospital in Khan Younis on December 8, 2023. AP Photo -
Palestinians flee Israeli bombing along the Salaheddine Road in the Zeitoun district of Gaza city on November 28, 2023. AFP -
A Red Cross vehicle takes Israeli hostages from the Gaza Strip into Egypt in Rafah on November 25, 2023. AP -
The ruins of buildings in Gaza city on November 24, 2023, as a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas took effect. AP Photo -
A woman and her cat return home to eastern Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip during the first hours of a four-day truce between Israel and Hamas forces on November 24, 2023. AFP -
Mourning the dead of Israeli bombardment outside the mortuary at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on November 14, 2023. AFP -
Civilians and rescuers look for survivors in the rubble of a building after Israeli bombing of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on November 12, 2023. AFP -
November 7, 2023, a month to the day after Hamas attacked Israel, a victim of an Israeli bombardment in Rafah is moved from the rubble. AFP -
Searching the rubble after Israeli air strikes on the town of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on October 26, 2023. AP Photo -
Mourning the Kotz family at their funeral in Gan Yavne, Israel, on October 17, 2023. AP Photo -
An Israeli firefighter composes himself after he and his colleagues extinguished cars set on fire by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip in Ashkelon, Israel, on October 9, 2023. AP Photo -
Palestinians with the wreckage of an Israeli tank at the Gaza Strip fence east of the city of Khan Younis on October 7, 2023, the day Hamas forces swept unopposed into Israel. AP Photo -
Israeli police officers evacuate a woman and a child from a site hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, southern Israel, on October 7, 2023. AP Photo
But controversy marred the ceremony after some family members of the dead said they did not want to see representatives of far-left political party La France Insoumise, the biggest left-wing party in Parliament.
The party has been widely criticised for failing to condemn Hamas immediately after the October 7 attacks.
It has demanded that Mr Macron also pay tribute to French citizens who have died in Israel's military operation in Gaza, which has killed more than 27,700 people, the Health Ministry there says.
LFI co-ordinator Manuel Bompard told local radio that Mr Macron would "grow in stature" if he paid his respects to victims of both Israel and Hamas "at the same time or separately – it doesn't matter."
There is no official information on the number of French nationals killed in Gaza, but authorities said in October that the two children of a woman wanted for terrorism had lost their lives in the enclave.
Key figures from the LFI, parliamentary chief Mathilde Panot and Mr Bompard, were present at the ceremony.
Members of the public gathered outside booing them as they appeared on the big screen.
An Elysee source told reporters before the event that it was important to also pay respects to victims of Israeli bombardments, but gave no indication as to when it would take place.
They pointed to Mr Macron repeatedly saying that "a life is worth a life".
"Homage will be paid to them at another time at a time when we will have to deal with that question," they said.
"Today, we are dealing with victims of terrorism and we must not mix two types of victims."
