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French President Emmanuel Macron condemned on Friday the destruction of an olive tree planted in memory of Ilan Halimi, a young Jewish man murdered in an act of antisemitic violence nearly two decades ago.
Macron called the vandalism an attempt to “kill him for a second time,” referring to Halimi, and promised authorities would find and punish the perpetrators.
Attackers cut down the memorial tree, planted 14 years ago in Epinay-sur-Seine, a northern Paris suburb, on Wednesday night. Local officials later posted a photo showing only the stump where the olive tree once stood.
National Leaders Denounce the Attack
Macron, writing on X, declared that France “will not forget” Halimi, who was “killed because he was Jewish.” He emphasized that the Republic remained “uncompromising” against antisemitism.
French Prime Minister François Bayrou also condemned the vandalism. He said the tree “was cut down by antisemitic hatred” and insisted that no crime can erase memory.
Paris Police Chief Laurent Nuñez confirmed that investigators had opened a case and vowed the attackers would be tracked down. “We will find them and deliver justice,” he pledged.
Who Was Ilan Halimi?
In January 2006, kidnappers targeted Ilan Halimi, a 23-year-old French Jew, because of his identity. They held him for more than three weeks and subjected him to torture. Police eventually discovered him near railroad tracks south of Paris. He was naked, handcuffed, and covered in burns. Halimi died while being rushed to the hospital.
The brutal killing shocked France. Moreover, it reignited fears about antisemitism and deepened anxiety within the country’s Jewish community, the largest in Western Europe.
Pattern of Desecration
Attackers have struck Halimi memorials before. For example, in 2017, vandals ripped down a commemorative plaque near Paris, hurled it to the ground, and smeared it with antisemitic graffiti. These repeated incidents show how Jewish remembrance sites remain frequent targets of hate.
