Murderer of Jewish Man in France Admits to Antisemitic Motive, Media Reports Say

A 34-year-old Jewish man, Eyal Hadad, was murdered earlier this month in Longperrier, France, northeast of Paris, and the suspected perpetrator, Hadad’s Muslim roommate, has confessed to an antisemitic motive, according to media reports.

The National Bureau of Vigilance Against Antisemitism (BNVCA) stated that the alleged assailant, Mohamed Dridi, killed Hadad with an ax blow to the head. Dridi was also said to have burned Hadad’s face in an attempt to prevent him from being identified.

After not hearing from Hadad for two days, members of his family, who live in Be’er Sheva, Israel, called Dridi, who then turned himself into police and directed them to Hadad’s body, which Dridi had moved to a nearby wooded area.

The media reports said Dridi initially told police that he had attacked Hadad— who was originally from Djerba, Tunisia — over an unpaid $100 debt. But he subsequently admitted to killing Hadad because he was Jewish.

The BNVCA said it was concerned over “the silence surrounding this case” by French authorities.

Yonathan Arfi — president of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF) — expressed “full solidarity” with the Hadad family.

“We hope for information quickly [about the case] and ask that all possibilities be examined at this stage, including the possibility of the aggravating factor of antisemitism,” Arfi tweeted on Monday.

Le Crif exprime sa pleine solidarité à la famille d’Eliahou Haddad, tué le 19 août à Longperrier (77).
Nous espérons rapidement des informations et demandons que toutes les pistes soient explorées à ce stade, y compris l’éventualité du facteur aggravant d”antisémitisme.

— Yonathan Arfi (@Yonathan_Arfi) August 29, 2022

The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) supports CRIF’s call for a thorough investigation into the murder of Hadad and stands in solidarity with the French Jewish community, which has been targeted in a string of violent antisemitic incidents in recent years, including the brutal murders of Sarah Halimi and Mireille Knoll in 2017 and 2018.