February 12, 2016 — Paris, France
When four people were murdered in the Hyper Cacher kosher store in Paris in January 2015, the world learned something French Jews have known for a long time: European antisemitism is back. This attack, coming on the heels of the Charlie Hebdo atrocity, could not be ignored. The vicious hatred that had been bubbling just under the surface in extreme corners of the Muslim community—not to mention the far-right and far-left political fringes—had boiled over. But the warning signs had been present for a decade, since the kidnapping, torture, and murder of Ilan Halimi.
Halimi was a 23-year-old Jewish man who worked as a salesman in a Paris phone store. He lived with his mother, who worked as a secretary, and his two younger sisters.
On January 21, 2006, a group calling itself the Gang of Barbarians, led by Youssouf Fofana, a Paris-born son of Ivorian immigrants, kidnapped him. Subscribing to an old antisemitic stereoype, the perpetrators believed that Ilan must be rich, and demanded a ransom of 450,000 Euros, which his family could not afford.
At least 27 people took part in the abduction and torture, and many more are believed to have known about the crime. None of them notified his family or the authorities while Ilan was brutalized and maimed for 24 days.
On February 13, 2006, Ilan was found naked, handcuffed, and barely alive, at a train station. More than 80% of his body was covered with burns, an ear and a toe had been cut off, and his genitals had been mutilated. He died while being transported to the hospital.
The antisemitic inspiration behind the murder was confirmed at the trial of Ilan Halimi’s killers. Fofana, the ringleader, was sentenced to life in prison, while more than 20 others received lesser jail terms.
The case generated immediate shock in France: for the first time since WWII, a person was murdered simply for being Jewish. Yet even as the French Jewish community experienced a new sense of foreboding that has lingered ever since, renewed by other anti-Jewish attacks, much of the rest of French society quickly moved on to other concerns. Only Jewish organizations and a few politicians continued to mourn and pay tribute to Ilan’s memory.
Ilan was the first victim of this new European antisemitism, which has struck again and again in recent years, driving Jews away from Europe and emboldening those who wish harm on Europe’s Jewish communities. Together with European governments, our offices across Europe are fighting back, implementing a clear plan to fight antisemitism. The end of antisemitism will come too late for Ilan, but Europe’s Jewish communities—and Europe itself—can still be saved from this hatred.
May Ilan Halimi’s memory be a blessing.
