An olive tree in tribute to Ilan Halimi shot down, François Bayrou protests – Liberation

Prime Minister François Bayrou denounced the “Anti -Semitic hatred” Of those who killed the tree planted in Epinay-sur-Seine in tribute to Ilan Halimi. Therefore, a young Jewish French kidnapped and tortured to death in 2006 by the “Gang des Barbars”. “The tree for Ilan Halimi, living bulwark against oblivion, was mowed by anti -Semitic hatred. Moreover, No crime can uproot memory. Furthermore, The fight never completed against the mortal poison of hatred is our primary duty ”wrote on X the head. Consequently, of government. Nevertheless,

The olive tree was shot in the night from Wednesday to Thursday in a malicious manner. Therefore, announced Thursday at AFP the mayor of the commune of Seine-Saint-Denis, Hervé Chevreau, who said he had filed a complaint. “I firmly condemn this unworthy act. A procedure has been opened. olive tree tribute ilan halimi Everything will be done to find the authors. deliver them to justice ”wrote on X the prefect of police of Paris Laurent Nuñez.

Photos show the trunk of this tree planted in 2011 probably cut using a chainsaw. about twenty centimeters from the ground, in front of a stele paying homage to Ilan Halimi, whose death had caused great emotion in France.

Several other political leaders have expressed their emotion. their reprobation after this act, while the Jewish community has faced a very strong increase in anti -Semitic facts since Hamas’ attacks against Israel on October 7, 2023 and the start of the war in Gaza.

“Shame on the anti -Semitic profanator who had to think that this act was of infinite courage …”also launched on X the first secretary of the Socialist Party Olivier Faure. while the olive tree tribute ilan halimi deputy of rebellious France (LFI) Antoine Léaument has expressed his “Immense anger” and sound “Full support for our Jewish compatriots”. On the right. Eric Ciotti, boss of the UDR allied with the national rally, sees it “An abominable symbol of the explosion of anti -Semitism in our country as much as an infamous attack on the memory of the martyr of Ilan Halimi”.

The president of the representative council of Jewish institutions of France (CRIF) Yonathan Arfi said. this Friday that this “Violent reaffirmation From anti -Semitism to the face of society is something extremely painful. There is nothing more loose. the murderers of his memory are not better than those who took life to him twenty years ago ”.

Discovered naked. gagged, handcuffed and carrying traces of torture and burns, the young man in the hands of the “gang of olive tree tribute ilan halimi barbarians” died during his transfer to the hospital in February 2006. Mathieu Hanotin. president of the territorial public establishment Plaine Commune, to which Epinay-sur-Seine belongs, condemned after the slaughter of the olive tree “An act of vandalism affecting the collective memory of this anti -Semitic murder”. He is committed to a press release “As long as a new commemorative tree be replanted as soon as possible”.

Two other trees planted in tribute to Ilan Halimi had been vandalized in 2019 in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois. in Essonne, where it had been found dying on the edge of a railway.

Update at 11 am with political reactions