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NEWS
Third Anniversary of Halimi Murder; French Jews Feeling Isolated
By Arnon Yaffeh, Paris
Paris recently marked the third anniversary of the murder of 23-year-old Ilan Halimi, who was kidnapped and tortured in a basement for three weeks. The trial for the gang of kidnappers and the killer has not yet begun. French justice officials appear to be waiting for a letup in antisemitic attacks in the streets and Metro system in Arab suburbs in order to portray the brutal incident as an event from a bygone era. Yet antisemitic attacks keep coming, one after the next.
Antisemitic comedian Dieudonne M'bala M'bala invited Holocaust denier Robert Faurisson to appear on stage with him and he also backs demonstrations against appearances by Jewish artists. One Jewish artist, Artur Assieg, wrote in Le Monde that French authorities have done nothing to protect him from thugs forcefully preventing audiences from attending his appearances. At demonstrations he is accused of funding the Israeli army. "Zionism, finances, money...I'm discovering antisemitic hatred for the first time. I never imagined people would demonstrate against me in France, my country, for my Judaism."
According to Actualite Juif, unidentified attackers fired shots at singer Enrico Macias at the entrance to his home. Police tried to impose a media blackout on the shooting.
Despite the ominous atmosphere Jewish issues continue to preoccupy France. French cardinals and newspapers have yet to stop denouncing the German pope, Benedict XVI, for his reluctance to permanently excommunicate Holocaust denier Bishop Richard Williamson. "I'll excommunicate him when he denies the Holocaust in Hebrew," the Pope promises in a cartoon on the front page of Le Monde.
Bookstall shelves are filled with books about the Holocaust and Judaism. In contrast to the attitude prevailing in the public sphere is a best-sellers by Jacques Attali, former advisor to Francois Mitterrand, that seeks to explain Judaism and its values to the French.
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