Editor's Letter

Jew Hating, Gang-Style

W

hatever the assailants' motives, the brazen attack
by a group of young Muslim blacks on a French
teenager wearing a kippah and walking to syna-
gogue mobilized Paris' Jewish community. And I can under-
stand why: Jew hating is a way of life in the neighborhood
where the attack occurred, Paris' infamous 19th district.
It seems clear that the boy's religion at least partially incited
the attack, which was aggravated by the
use of metal bars. Whether the boy's
Jewish identity was the direct spur or
an underlying cause, the attack itself
was a violent expression of religious
hate.
The victim, Rudy Haddad, 17, lives
in Pantin, a Paris suburb. But he often
visited the troubled 19th in north-
ern Paris. That district is a breeding
ground for violence between Muslim
Arabs and blacks from North Africa as
well as observant Jews living among
them, according to France's public prosecutor assigned to the
Haddad case. He believes that anti-Semitism was at least a
factor in the beating. Haddad was beaten following a series of
fights between young Jews and young blacks earlier that day in
a large park in the troubled district, the prosecutor said.
Haddad's mother, Corinne, a high school education coun-
selor, theorized that her son was alone that Saturday night. She
said his friends would never have abandoned him. The ruth-
lessness of the June 21 attack appalled her.
"They wanted to kill my son:' she told journalists four days
later.
French Jews believe the beating was an anti-Semitic
act ... period. Paris police continue to search for
clues. The debate centers on whether the boy
was beaten because he had a kippah on or
because he was the target of a teen-gang
payback.
Haddad's mother told the French daily
newspaper le Monde that Rudy was not
a hoodlum. "I taught him moral values.
He has friends of all religions, of all
races:' she told journalists.
The beating triggered a medically
induced coma that lasted three days.
Haddad suffered bruises all over his
body. Stitches were required to close
head wounds. His mother was confi-
dent he would recover. On June 26, she
told reporters: "He doesn't remember
anything, absolutely nothing. He asked,
`Did I dream?' He saw the bruises on
his arms and asked,'What's this?' He
hasn't seen his face yet!'
French authorities wouldn't call the attack outright anti-
Semitism, but still condemned it.

"It was senseless, and it could just as well have been me
because I'm Jewish:' David Sebban, 17, told the New York-
based Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA).
Tensions continue in the district despite a general decline in
the number of anti-Semitic attacks since a surge from 2000 to
2004. So the assault on Haddad shouldn't be shocking.
The district had the largest recorded number of anti-Semitic
incidents within the French capital in 2007, according to JTA.
Last year, 29 incidents were recorded there, up 14 from 2006.
That contrasts with two or three reported incidents in areas
closer to central Paris in 2007.
In the Haddad case, Paris police detained as suspects
five youths ages 14-17. The gang that instigated the beating
numbered anywhere from 15 to 30. Four of the youths called
in for questioning on July 7 were found in the 19th district.
Another youth was stopped in the northern Paris suburb of
Seine-Saint-Denis. Immediately following the attack, five other
youths were held by police and later released as witnesses, JTA
reported.
Possible charges include attempted murder aggravated by
an anti-Semitic character and group violence with aggravating
circumstances.
That first charge says it all.

Cautious Response
A JTA report drove home what Jews in France face: "Haddad's
violent beating is a reminder of the 2006 anti-Semitic killing of
Ilan Halimi, who was kidnapped and tortured before his body
was left near railroad tracks just outside of Paris!'
Halimi was 23. The suspects were part of a gang with mostly
Muslim Arab and black members of African origin. Suspects
told police that they targeted Halimi because "all Jews are
rich" and that they put their cigarettes out on the
victim's face because "he was Jewish and we don't
like Jews."
On Feb. 22 this year, a 19-year-old Jewish man
in a Paris suburb was held captive and beaten
by six males ages 17 and 25. They handcuffed
Mathieu Roumi, then beat and kicked
him over money he allegedly owed
them. They then scribbled sale juif,
dirty Jew, with a marker on his face
while making references to Halimi,
according to JTA.
While visiting Israel the week after
the Haddad attack, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy, who has been sym-
pathetic to the Jewish plight in France,
told reporters he was "particularly
shocked by what happened to a young
French boy on the pretext that he was
wearing a kippah'
In France, 600,000 Jews live among
a population of 60 million; that's about 1 percent. Muslims
make up 9 percent of the French populace. France is home to
the world's third-largest Jewish population after America and
Israel. On French radio, Chief Rabbi Gilles Bernheim of France
described the attack on Haddad as "something vile and notori-
ously anti-Semitic!'
CRIF, the umbrella organization of the French Jewish com-
munity, felt the government's quick denouncement of the
attack was sufficient. The France-based International League
Against Racism and Anti-Semitism concurred.

Whether the boy's Jewish
identity was the direct
spur or an underlying
cause, the attack itself
was a violent expression
of religious hate.

No Isolated Act
In the incident's aftermath, French Jews rightly fear that deadly
tentacles remain in play. Angry and frightened Jewish teens
gathered in Paris' relatively poor 19th district the day after the
attack to galvanize support for Haddad. Jewish leaders guess
that up to 30,000 Jews live there; about 200,000 Jews live in
Paris and the surrounding area.

Editor Letter on page A6

Julie has always
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She's living it.

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Helping People with
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248.538.6610 x354

kristidavis@jarc.org

1347370

July 17 • 2008

A5