PARIS (AFP) — The reducing down of an olive tree planted in reminiscence of a younger French Jewish man tortured to demise in 2006 stirred outrage in France on Friday, with President Emmanuel Macron vowing punishment over an act of antisemitic “hatred.”
Politicians throughout the political spectrum condemned the act as an assault in opposition to the reminiscence of Ilan Halimi, who was kidnapped by a gang of round 20 youths in January 2006 and tortured in a low-income housing property within the Paris suburb of Bagneux.
Discovered three weeks later, the 23-year-old died on the best way to hospital.
An olive tree, planted in 2011 in Halimi’s reminiscence, was reduce down, in all probability with a chainsaw, on Wednesday night time within the northern Paris suburb of Epinay-sur-Seine.
The incident stoked recent issues about a rise in antisemitic acts and hate crimes in France as worldwide tensions mount over Gaza.
“Each effort will probably be made to punish this act of hatred,” Macron stated on X, including that France’s combat in opposition to antisemitism will probably be “uncompromising.”
The rabbi of Le Raincy, Moshe Lewin (C) crops a tree with the nice rabbi of France Gilles Bernheim (third left) and Le Raincy’s mayor Eric Raoult (left) on January 19, 2011 in Paris, as a part of a ceremony in homage to Ilan Halimi, a 23-year-old Jewish Frenchman who was brutally murdered in 2006. (Bertrand Langlois/ AFP)
“The nation won’t overlook this son of France who died as a result of he was Jewish,” Macron stated.
Prime Minister Francois Bayrou known as the tree “a residing bulwark in opposition to oblivion.”
“The unending combat in opposition to the lethal poison of hatred is our major responsibility,” he added.
Officers pledged to plant a brand new memorial tree “as quickly as attainable.”
Members of France’s Jewish group — one of many largest on this planet — have stated the variety of antisemitic acts has surged following the assault by Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023, that killed some 1,200 folks and noticed one other 251 taken hostage, sparking the warfare in Gaza.
In 2006, Halimi’s homicide struck horror into France’s Jewish group and stirred debate about antisemitism in France. Police on the time initially refused to think about the homicide a hate crime, and tens of hundreds took to the streets to demand justice.
Ilan Halimi, kidnapped and murdered by an anti-Semitic gang in Paris in 2006, (Courtesy of Stephanie Yin/JTA)
Yonathan Arfi, president of the Consultant Council of Jewish Establishments in France (CRIF), stated on Friday the felling of the tree was “extraordinarily painful.”
“There’s nothing extra cowardly, and people who have murdered his reminiscence aren’t any higher than those that took his life 20 years in the past,” Arfi informed AFP.
“This isn’t simply one other antisemitic act, it’s a approach for antisemites to shout that they’re right here greater than ever.”
Herve Chevreau, the mayor of Epinay-sur-Seine, filed a felony grievance.
Paris police chief Laurent Nunez condemned what he known as a “despicable act” and stated an investigation had been launched.
Halimi was lured by a 17-year-old lady to a housing property basement within the suburbs, the place he was attacked and subdued with ether.
Held prisoner for ransom, Halimi was tortured for twenty-four days earlier than he was discovered bare, certain and gagged on February 13, 2006.
This {photograph} exhibits the trunk of the olive tree, presumably reduce down with a chainsaw, which was planted in 2011 in entrance of a memorial to Ilan Halimi, in Epinay-sur-Seine, on the outskirts of Paris, on August 15, 2025. (Picture by Dimitar DILKOFF / AFP)
Youssouf Fofana, the pinnacle of the gang dubbed the “Barbarians,” was sentenced to life in jail.
Two different timber planted in tribute to Halimi have been vandalized and sawn down in 2019 within the southern suburb of Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, the place Halimi was discovered dying close to a railway observe.
Reported antisemitic acts in France surged from 436 in 2022 to 1,676 in 2023, earlier than dipping to 1,570 final 12 months, based on the inside ministry.
