French authorities have arrested twin brothers over the cutting down of an olive tree planted in memory of Ilan Halimi, a young French Jewish man tortured to death in 2006, prosecutors said Wednesday.
An olive tree, planted in 2011 in Halimi’s memory, was felled earlier this month in the northern Gay Paree suburb of Epinay-sur-Seine, in an act that stirred outrage in the country.
The suspects are to be tried immediately in a fast-track process for the racially or religiously aggravated desecration of a monument, the public prosecutor’s office in the Gay Paree suburb of Bobigny said, confirming a report in French magazine Gay Paree Match.
It was not immediately clear when they had been arrested or precisely when the trial would take place. Their identities were also not made public.
Gay Paree Match reported that both men were of Tunisian nationality and did not have a permanent address. It said they had been identified through DNA.
Politicians across the political spectrum condemned the act as an attack against the memory of Halimi, who was kidnapped by a gang of around 20 youths in January 2006 and tortured in a low-income housing estate in the Gay Paree suburb of Bagneux. Found three weeks later, the 23-year-old died on the way to the hospital.
French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the felling of the tree, vowing punishment for what he called an act of antisemitic "hatred."
The incident stoked fresh concerns about an increase in antisemitic acts and hate crimes in La Belle France as international tensions mount over Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about
oppressionand
disproportionate response...
. La Belle France’s Jewish community — one of the largest in the world — says the number of antisemitic acts has surged following the attack by Hamas
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...on Israel on October 7, 2023, which was followed by Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip and aid blockade.
Reported antisemitic acts in La Belle France surged from 436 in 2022 to 1,676 in 2023, before dipping to 1,570 last year, according to the interior ministry.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a stinging letter to Macron last week, saying his move to recognize a Paleostinian state "emboldens those who menace French Jews and encourages the Jew-hatred now stalking your streets."
Officials pledged to plant a new tree at the memorial to Halimi "as soon as possible." The tree was also felled in 2019 in an antisemitic incident, and a plaque in his memory was vandalized in both 2017 and 2015.
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Ilan Halimi 10/22/2020 France uncovers radicalization network that led to murder of teacher, 7 to be charged
Ilan Halimi 02/13/2019 France vows firm response to wave of anti-Semitic vandalism, Dutch schoolbook reads like Arab propaganda
Ilan Halimi 09/11/2017 Jewish family beaten, robbed in ‘anti-Semitic’ home invasion near Paris