A ceremony to mark the start of Hanukkah, a weeklong Jewish holiday, at the Elysee has sparked an outcry in France, with President Emmanuel Macron being accused of violating the principle of secularism. During Thursday’s ceremony at the presidential palace in Paris, Haim Korsia, the chief rabbi of France, lit a Hannukah candle alongside Macron. The scene, filmed and shared on social media, stirred a controversy, with politicians and others criticising the president as French laws specify that religion should play no part in the running of the state.
