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J'Accus0
Torture and murder of young Jew
reopens questions of France's safety.
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Brett Kline
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Paris
T
would be the announcement that anti-
Semitic acts in France dropped by 47
percent in 2005 over the previous year.
Anti-Semiticattacks, largely commit-
ted by youths of North African origin,
increased in France during the first
few years of the Palestinian uprising
against Israel.
The climate for Jews had seemed to
improve in recent months, as had
France's relations with Israel. The
change came after Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon's visit to Paris
last summer and the Israeli pullout
from Gaza. But the Halimi incident
has rocked the community, with many
saying they had felt all along it was a
deliberate act against Jews. After
meeting on Feb. 21 with France's inte-
rior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, known,
for ordering the police crackdown
he brutal murder of a young
Jewish man is roiling the
French Jewish community
and reviving questions over whether
France is a safe place for Jews.
In an incident that has dominated
headlines, Ilan Halimi, 23, was lured
away from the store where he sold
mobile phones on Jan. 21 by a woman,
abducted and then held in a suburban
housing project forthree weeks by a
criminal gang. He was repeatedly tor-
tured, according to French officials. He
was then dumped, barely alive and
reportedly with burn marks all over his
body, at a suburban train station on
Monday, Feb. 13. Halimi died while
being driven to a hospital.
Until this week, detec-
tives investigating the
case said they were not
linking it to anti-
Semitism. But in a turn-
around, Prime Minister
Dominique de Villepin
told a Jewish communal
gathering Feb. 20 that
officials had decided to
treat the case as an act of
anti-Semitism. De
Parisians rallied Feb. 26 against hate in response
Villepin said the minis-
to the murder of Ilan Halimi.
ter of justice had ordered
that Halimi's torture and murder be
against anti-Semitic violence in 2005,
considered "premeditated murder
Cukierman said Halimi's death "was
motivated by religious affiliation."
one of the worst incidents for the
De Villepin spoke at the annual din- Jewish community in France, if not
ner of the Representative Council of
the worst."
Jewish Institutions in France, or CRIF,
At least 1,200 people demonstrated
the umbrella organization of secular
in Paris on Feb. 26 to show their anger
French Jewish groups.
over the murder. The demonstrators
In addition to pledging that the gov- shouted slogans and carried banners.
ernment would do its utmost to find
Some read "Justice for Ilan" and
Halimi's killers, de Villepin vowed that "Avenge Ilan!"
the French government would fight
De Villepin opened the CRIF dinner
anti-Semitism throughout French
with a message to the Halimi family,
society. The incident dominated dis-
saying, "I share your pain. We owe it to
cussion at the annual dinner, which
you to find the truth."
attracts hundreds of ministers, elected
Cukierman responded: "The Jews of
officials, ambassadors and religious
France want to know the truth. Did
officials.
Halimi die because he was a Jew?"
Ironically, de Villepin and CRIF's
president, Roger Cukierman, had
JTA correspondent Lauren Elkin
hoped that a highlight of the dinner
contributed to this report.
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