Macron condemns ‘act of hatred’ after tree memorial for murdered Jew is cut down

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French President Emmanuel Macron has pledged that every effort will be made to track down and punish the person who cut down a tree commemorating a murdered Jew. The memorial tree was planted 14 years ago to honour Ilan Halimi, who was tortured and murdered by a Paris gang in 2006, sparking widespread shock and outrage at the time. Macron said the felling of the olive tree on Wednesday was “an attempt to kill him a second time”, adding: “All means are being deployed to punish this act of hatred.” Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez confirmed an investigation was under way, adding: “Everything will be done to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice.”

Halimi’s body was found by a railway line handcuffed to a tree, naked and severely burned, having been held captive by the Barbarian gang for more than three weeks. He was lured by a female gang member to an empty apartment in February 2006, where he was attacked and drugged. The kidnappers tried unsuccessfully to extort a ransom of €450,000 ($600,000; £405,000) from his family, sending them harrowing images and video recordings. The mastermind – Youssouf Fofana – targeted Halimi because of his Jewish heritage, believing his family to be unduly wealthy. Fofana was later sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 22 years, while other accomplices implicated in the crime received lesser sentences.

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FILE – A picture of Ilan Halimi is seen at a makeshift memorial, in Sainte Genevieve des Bois, south suburb of Paris, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019 during a tribute ceremony Francois Mori/AP

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron pledged Friday that no effort will be spared to track down and prosecute unknown attackers who chopped down an olive tree planted in homage to a French Jew murdered in 2006.

The commemorative tree for Ilan Halimi, planted 14 years ago in the northern Paris suburb of Épinay-sur-Seine, was felled on Wednesday night, seemingly with a chainsaw. The town posted a photo on its Facebook page showing the tree’s leafy, bushy top completely severed from its base, leaving just the stump poking from the ground.

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“Cutting down the tree that honored Ilan Halimi is an attempt to kill him for a second time,” Macron posted on X. “It will not succeed: the Nation will not forget this child of France, killed because he was Jewish.”

“All means are being deployed to punish this act of hatred. In the face of antisemitism, the Republic is always uncompromising.” he added.

Halimi was found naked, handcuffed and covered with burn marks near railroad tracks in the Essonne region south of Paris on Feb. 13, 2006. He died on the way to the hospital after being held captive and tortured for more than three weeks. He was 23. The brutal killing revived worries in France about antisemitism and led to deep anxiety in France’s Jewish community, the largest in western Europe.

French Prime Minister François Bayrou, in a post on X, said the olive tree “was felled by antisemitic hatred.”

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“No crime can uproot memory. The never-ending fight against the deadly poison of hatred is our foremost duty,” he wrote.

In a separate post, the Paris police chief condemned “this ignoble act” and said an investigation has been launched. “Everything will be done to find the perpetrators and deliver them to justice,” he pledged.

Attackers have previously desecrated other efforts to keep Halimi’s memory alive. In 2017, a commemorative plaque near Paris was ripped off, thrown on the ground and covered with antisemitic writing.

President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister François Bayrou on Friday condemned antisemitic hatred after a tree planted in tribute to Ilan Halimi, a 23-year-old Jewish man, was cut down. Halimi was kidnapped and tortured in January 2006.

On 20 January that year, Halimi was forced into a car in Sceaux on the southern outskirts of Paris. He was held first in a flat in nearby Bagneux, then in a cellar in the town, by a group of about 20 people calling themselves the “Barbarian Gang”.

The gang demanded up to 450,000 euros from Halimi’s parents for his release.

He was freed on 13 February 2006 about 20km from Bagneux, near Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois railway station. He died on the way to hospital.

“Cutting down the tree honouring Ilan Halimi is tantamount to trying to kill him a second time,” Macron wrote on social media.

“That will not happen: the nation will not forget this child of France who died because he was Jewish. All means are being deployed to punish this act of hatred. In the face of antisemitism: the republic, always uncompromising.”

Ilan Halimi was kidnapped on the southern outskirts of Paris in January 2006 and tortured over the course of three weeks. AFP – –

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Bayrou said: “No crime can uproot memory. The never-ending fight against the deadly poison of hatred is our primary duty.”

Hervé Chevreau, the mayor of Epinay-sur-Seine where the tree was planted in March 2011, reported the attack to police.

“It’s an odious act, we can only be outraged,” Chevreau told reporters. “We’re talking about a park where there are lots of plants and other olive trees. And the one that was cut down was in memory of Ilan Halimi. This is definitely an antisemitic act.”

Police have requested CCTV footage from the park. “I hope that the investigation will be successful and that this individual will be firmly punished for this unspeakable act,” Chevreau said.

Paris police chief Laurent Nunez wrote on social media: “Everything will be done to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

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”.

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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Paris AP —

French President Emmanuel Macron pledged Friday that no effort will be spared to track down and prosecute unknown attackers who chopped down an olive tree planted in homage to a French Jew murdered in 2006.

The commemorative tree for Ilan Halimi, planted 14 years ago in the northern Paris suburb of Épinay-sur-Seine, was felled on Wednesday night, seemingly with a chainsaw. The town posted a photo on its Facebook page showing the tree’s leafy, bushy top completely severed from its base, leaving just the stump poking from the ground.

“Cutting down the tree that honored Ilan Halimi is an attempt to kill him for a second time,” Macron posted on X. “It will not succeed: the Nation will not forget this child of France, killed because he was Jewish.”

“All means are being deployed to punish this act of hatred. In the face of antisemitism, the Republic is always uncompromising.” he added.

Halimi was found naked, handcuffed and covered with burn marks near railroad tracks in the Essonne region south of Paris on Feb. 13, 2006. He died on the way to the hospital after being held captive and tortured for more than three weeks. He was 23. The brutal killing revived worries in France about antisemitism and led to deep anxiety in France’s Jewish community, the largest in western Europe.

French Prime Minister François Bayrou, in a post on X, said the olive tree “was felled by antisemitic hatred.”

“No crime can uproot memory. The never-ending fight against the deadly poison of hatred is our foremost duty,” he wrote.

In a separate post, the Paris police chief condemned “this ignoble act” and said an investigation has been launched. “Everything will be done to find the perpetrators and deliver them to justice,” he pledged.

Attackers have previously desecrated other efforts to keep Halimi’s memory alive. In 2017, a commemorative plaque near Paris was ripped off, thrown on the ground and covered with antisemitic writing.