French press review 28 July 2014

Gaza dominates headlines in France, papers track former French President's comeback, and the state wants your blood.

Left leaning Libération says Israel is going for the jugular and will not back down until it's ensured that the conflict won't flare up again in upcoming years. The usual player in mediating the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the United States have been largely discredited. Libé reports that Israeli media have accused US Secretary of State John Kerry of being an ignoramus.

Israel is torn between the feeling that the whole world is against it and fear that the UN will come out with another Goldstone report. In 2009, the UN Human Rights Council found both Hamas and Israel guilty of war crimes and potentially crimes against humanity. Unsurprisingly, Israel is worried that this may happen again.

Le Monde reports that the pro-Palestinian protests in France have not only drawn old school left wing radicals and right wing extremists: there's also a new generation of young protesters, taking to the streets for the first time. They're disenchanted with France's leaders but refuse to remain indifferent to the violence in Gaza. Their presence on the streets is just the tip of the iceberg, the paper says: they're also far more active on social media than their older counterparts.

Conservative Le Figaro turns to the right's embattled leader: Nicolas Sarkozy and his planned comeback. Though his return at the head of the leading opposition party may not be welcomed by all, Sarkozy is set to take on the responsibility.

The charismatic former President still enjoys relative widespread popularity with the Conservatives, despite recent fraud scandals. Le Figaro points out that if Sarkozy runs to head the right-wing, it's hopefully to shake it back into shape - a series of scandals have disenchanted many of party's backers.

Communist L'Humanité reports on the lack of blood donations in summer. Freezing blood is complicated and rarely done in France so hospitals depend on donations within a two week period. France needs about 10 000 donations a day, so the state has launched a massive blood drive. Only a small fraction of the French acutally make donations, though 80% claim they would be ready to. So if the French state wants your blood, it's for a good cause.

And finally Le Figaro has the story of peer-to-peer pet keeping. France touts the highest number of pets in Europe, and come summer, their owners are hard-pressed to figure out what to do with them. Start-ups modeled on Airbnb are tapping into the huge market for petsitters, with the potential to change the lives of cats and dogs for years to come.