The cutting down of an olive tree planted in memory of a young French Jewish man tortured to death in 2006 stirred outrage in France on Friday, with President Emmanuel Macron vowing punishment over an act of antisemitic “hatred”.
Politicians across the political spectrum condemned the act as an attack against the memory of Ilan Halimi, who was kidnapped by a gang of around 20 youths in January 2006 and tortured in a low-income housing estate in the Paris suburb of Bagneux.
Found three weeks later, the 23-year-old died on the way to hospital.
An olive tree, planted in 2011 in Halimi’s memory, was cut down, probably with a chainsaw, on Wednesday night in the northern Paris suburb of Epinay-sur-Seine.
The incident stoked fresh concerns about an increase in antisemitic acts and hate crimes in France as international tensions mount over Gaza.
“Every effort will be made to punish this act of hatred,” Macron said on X, adding that France’s fight against antisemitism will be “uncompromising”.
“The nation will not forget this son of France who died because he was Jewish,” Macron said.
Prime Minister Francois Bayrou called the tree “a living bulwark against oblivion”.
“The never-ending fight against the deadly poison of hatred is our primary duty,” he added.
Officials pledged to plant a new memorial tree “as soon as possible”.
– ‘Extremely painful’ –
Members of France’s Jewish community — one of the largest in the world — have said the number of antisemitic acts has surged following the attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023 which was followed by Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip and aid blockade.
In 2006, Halimi’s murder struck horror into France’s Jewish community and stirred debate about antisemitism in France. Police at the time initially refused to consider the murder a hate crime, and tens of thousands took to the street to demand justice.
Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France (CRIF), said on Friday the felling of the tree was “extremely painful”.
“There is nothing more cowardly, and those who have murdered his memory are no better than those who took his life 20 years ago,” Arfi told AFP.
“This is not just another antisemitic act, it is a way for antisemites to shout that they are here more than ever.”
Herve Chevreau, the mayor of Epinay-sur-Seine, filed a criminal complaint.
Paris police chief Laurent Nunez condemned what he called a “despicable act” and said an investigation had been launched.
Halimi was lured by a 17-year-old girl to a housing estate basement in the suburbs, where he was attacked and subdued with ether.
Held prisoner for ransom, Halimi was tortured for 24 days before he was found naked, bound and gagged on February 13, 2006.
Youssouf Fofana, the head of the gang dubbed the “Barbarians”, was sentenced to life in prison.
The son of Ivorian immigrants, Fofana had recruited followers among youths from Paris’s bleak immigrant suburbs.
Two other trees planted in tribute to Halimi were vandalised and sawn down in 2019 in the southern suburb of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois, where Halimi was found dying near a railway track.
Reported antisemitic acts in France surged from 436 in 2022 to 1,676 in 2023, before dipping to 1,570 last year, according to the interior ministry.
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