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Thugs cut down memorial tree for French Jew who was tortured to death in hate attack
The olive tree in a Paris suburb was planted for Ilan Halimi, who was killed aged 23 in 2006
August 28, 2025 15:10
The olive tree in a Paris suburb was planted for Ilan Halimi, who was killed aged 23 in 2006
August 28, 2025 15:10A tree planted to commemorate Ilan Halimi, the French-Jewish victim of a horrific antisemitic attack in 2006 in which he was tortured and murdered, has been felled by thugs.
The olive tree was cut down earlier in this month in the Paris suburb of Epinay-sur-Seine and prosecutors announced the arrest of Tunisian twin brothers on Wednesday.
The accused were identified through DNA traces and have no fixed address, according to French magazine Paris Match.
Halimi, a 23-year-old French Jew, who was kidnapped in 2006 by a gang of 20 people. He was taken to a housing estate in the Paris suburb of Bagneux where he was tortured for three weeks. Eventually, he was found but died on his way to the hospital.
Another memorial tree planted to remember Halimi in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, Essonne – where he was found close to death – was cut down in 2019.
Memorial placards for him have also been defaced several times over the years.
The mayor of d'Epinay sur Seine, Hervé Chevreau, said: “The fact that this olive tree paid tribute to Ilan Halimi was well known.”
French Prime Minister François Bayrou said: “The tree for Ilan Halimi, a living bulwark against forgetting, was cut down by antisemitic hatred.
“No crime can uproot memory. The never-ending struggle against the mortal poison of hatred is our foremost duty,” he added.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who recently announced that France would recognise Palestine as a state, condemned the incident and vowed to punish the perpetrators. He also spoke about the rising trend of antisemitism in the country.
Last week, Macron was warned in a letter from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that his recognition of Palestine would encourage Jew-hatred in France. "[It] emboldens those who menace French Jews and encourages the Jew-hatred now stalking your streets,” the letter read.
After Israel and the US, France has the third highest population of Jews in the world, standing at nearly half a million.
Reported antisemitic incidents in the country rocketed from 436 in 2022 to 1,676 in 2023. In 2024, despite having fallen very slightly, incident numbers still stood at over three times 2022 levels.
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