An investigation was opened in Épinay-sur-Seine, in Seine-Saint-Denis, to find the author of this anti-Semitic act.
From the olive tree planted in the municipal garden of Alcubendas, in Épinay-sur-Seine (Seine-Saint-Denis), there is only one trunk of a few tens of centimeters high. The rest of the tree, put in tribute to Ilan Halimi almost fifteen years ago, lies near the commemorative plaque. “No other degradation has been found” On this place, located above the banks of the Seine, very close to the town hall, indicates a police source.
The scene was discovered Thursday morning, at 9 am, by agents of the Plaine Commune public establishment, of which Épinay-sur-Seine is part. Immediately, Hervé Chevreau, the mayor without a label of this city with just over 50,000 inhabitants, filed a complaint for the degradation of public good. For the councilor, there is no doubt that this act of vandalism is an anti -Semitic character.
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The olive tree, symbol of peace and hope, had been planted in 2011 to pay tribute to Ilan Halimi, a young 23 -year -old Jewish Frenchman, targeted because he was “Jew, therefore rich”, According to the anti -Semitic prejudices of Youssouf Fofana and his “gang of barbarians”. He had been kidnapped and tortured for 24 days in January 2006 in a city in Bagneux (Hauts-de-Seine) by around twenty torturers who intended to obtain a ransom. Discovered a little less than a month later naked, gagged and handcuffed at the edge of a railroad of Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, in Essonne, where his executioners had abandoned it after having stabbed and burned on the essence, the young man died during his transfer to the hospital. Presented as the ” brain “ From this anti -Semitic murder, Youssouf Fofana was sentenced in July 2009 to life imprisonment with 22 years of security.
“He’s killing him a second time”
At the time, the Calvary of Ilan Halimi had aroused great emotion throughout France. Almost twenty years later, the slaughter of this tree, planted to pay tribute to it, resonates as a will to “Kill it a second time”reacted the head of state, Emmanuel Macron, on X. The Bobigny prosecution opened an investigation for “Destruction of property intended for utility or public decoration”entrusted to the territorial security of 93, to shed light on this desecration which took place around 2 am. At that time, the presence of eyewitnesses is unlikely. Would neighbors or passers-by have heard the sound of a chainsaw? No tool has been found near the slaughtered tree, says the prosecution. “The park is without surveillance camera, but the parking lot located in the immediate vicinity of three”specifies a police source. According to our information, the recorded images have already been consulted by a judicial police officer. “In the middle of the night, you can see a silhouette with a bag climb the gates, but the place is very green, very wooded, formal identification could be complicated”commented the mayor, contacted by our colleagues from Parisian, who revealed the case.
Pending the follow -up of the investigation to identify the author and know the reasons which pushed him to commit this act of vandalism, the president of Plaine Commune, Mathieu Hanotin, was “Already committed to a new commemorative tree to be replanted as soon as possible”. The city of Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, where Ilan Halimi had been found dying, had done the same after two trees planted in his memory, one of which bore his photo, had been vandalized and sawn on February 11, 2019.
The tree for Ilan Halimi, living bulwark against oblivion, was mowed by anti -Semitic hatred
François Bayrou, Prime Minister
Political reactions were quick to flood to denounce the slaughter of the Épinay-sur-Seine tree, while anti-Semitic hatred has exploded in France since the attack on Hamas against Israel on October 7, 2023. « The nation will not forget this child of France dead because Jewish. All means are deployed to punish this act of hatred. Faced with anti -Semitism: the Republic, always uncompromising ”, said Emmanuel Macron on X. “The tree for Ilan Halimi, living bulwark against forgetting, was mowed by anti -Semitic hatredaccused Prime Minister, François Bayrou. No crime can uproot memory. The fight never completed against the mortal poison of hatred is our primary duty. »»
Unanimous condemnation
The Minister of National Education, Élisabeth Borne, regretted the slaughter of a “Symbol of hope in front of barbarism”. “Destroying it is an infamous act of hatred and anti -Semitism of absolute cowardice. We are faced with an affront to our collective memory and the values of the Republic. The authors will have to answer for their actions. »» The president of the UDR, Éric Ciotti, has castigated “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”.
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On the left, MEP Raphaël Glucksmann, co -president of Public Place, paid tribute to “Ilan Halimi, perpetual victim of barbarians”, “Headed now beyond death”. “Peace to his soul and tirelessly fights against anti -Semitic garbage, those who excuse them and lift their way”he said. As for Olivier Faure, the first secretary of the Socialist Party, he said: “Shame on the anti -Semitic profanator who had to think that this act was of infinite courage …”
It is moving that the state, the town hall, the citizens are mobilizing to say that it is not just a tree that was cut, it is a hope that we sought to sabotage
Haïm Korsia, Grand Rabbi of France
Present in Épinay-sur-Seine after the discovery of the truncated olive tree, the great rabbi of France, Haïm Korsia, said “Moving that the state, the town hall, the citizens are mobilizing to say that it is not just a tree that has been cut, it is a hope that we have sought to sabotage”. He then prayed with other members of the Jewish community in front of the stele in tribute to Ilan Halimi.
Some 504 anti -Semitic acts were noted in France between January and May 2025, an increase of 134 % compared to the same period two years earlier, according to figures broadcast in early July by the Ministry of the Interior. Despite a drop of 24 % compared to 2024, the level remains “Very high”.
