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Netanyahu joins Macron at French Holocaust commemoration

PARIS (AP) - French President Emmanuel Macron and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are honoring the victims of a mass deportation of French Jews to Nazi camps 75 years ago.

French Jewish leaders are giving speeches at an emotional ceremony at the Vel d'Hiv stadium outside Paris, where French police rounded up some 13,000 people on July 16-17, 1942, before they were sent on to camps. Fewer than 100 survived.

Pro-Palestinian and other activists protested Netanyahu's appearance, criticizing Jewish settlement policy and the blockade of Gaza.

Macron called it a "natural gesture" to invite Netanyahu but insisted in an interview Sunday in the Journal du dimanche newspaper he is "not trying to confuse the subject of the commemoration and Franco-Israeli relations."

Macron is holding separate talks with Netanyahu later Sunday.

Pro-Palestinian activists shouts anti- Israeli slogans as they gather to protest Israeli Prime Minister Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visit to France in Paris, Saturday, July 15, 2017. French President Emanuel Macron's invited on Sunday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for bilateral talks and a commemoration of a mass deportation of French Jews to Nazi camps 75 years ago. (AP Photo/Michel Euler) The Associated Press
A pro-Palestinian activist holds a placard and picture of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he gather to protest Israeli Prime Minister's visit to France in Paris, Saturday, July 15, 2017. French President Emanuel Macron's invited on Sunday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for bilateral talks and a commemoration of a mass deportation of French Jews to Nazi camps 75 years ago. Placard reads, shame to the collaboration with the Israeli fascists. (AP Photo/Michel Euler) The Associated Press
Masks of French President Emanuel Macron and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lay on a table as a pro-Palestinian activist takes one away during a gathering to protest Israeli Prime Minister's visit to France in Paris, Saturday, July 15, 2017. French President Emanuel Macron's invited on Sunday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for bilateral talks and a commemoration of a mass deportation of French Jews to Nazi camps 75 years ago. (AP Photo/Michel Euler) The Associated Press
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