French Prime Minister François Bayrou on Friday, August 15th condemned an act of “antisemitic hatred” after a memorial tree planted in tribute to a young French Jewish man tortured to death in 2006 had been cut down outside Paris.
On January 20, 2006, 23-year-old Ilan Halimi was kidnapped by a gang of youths and tortured in a housing estate in the Paris suburb of Bagneux. Found three weeks later, he died on the way to hospital.
An olive tree, planted in 2011 in Halimi’s memory, was cut down, probably with a chainsaw, overnight Wednesday to Thursday in the northern Paris suburb of Epinay-sur-Seine, officials said.
The move stoked fresh concerns about an increase in antisemitic acts and hate crime against Jewish people in France.
“The tree for Ilan Halimi, a living bulwark against oblivion, has been cut down by antisemitic hatred,” Bayrou said on X on Friday.
“No crime can eradicate memory. The never-ending fight against the deadly poison of hatred is our primary duty,” he added.
Hervé Chevreau, the mayor of Epinay-sur-Seine, said on Thursday he had filed a complaint.
Jewish groups in France have repeatedly warned that the number of antisemitic acts has surged following the attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7th, 2023.
