In Lyon, France, Profanation of the Dead
Sep 2, 2025 2:00 pm
By Hugh Fitzgerald
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It’s been quite a week for antisemites in France. There was the cutting down of the tree planted as a memorial to Ilan Halimi, the young Jewish man who in 2016 was kidnapped by a self-styled “gang of barbarians” — twenty Muslims — who demanded ransom from his family, as they were convinced “all Jews are rich.” He was not; he had a modest job in a phone store; he lived with two sisters and his mother in a small apartment, and no ransom was paid. Instead, Halimi was brutally tortured over three weeks, at the end of which he was found gagged and handcuffed and naked, lying where he had been left near some railroad tracks; he died on the way to the hospital. A tree was planted in Halimi’s honor; it was cut down by unknown malefactors. A second tree was then planted to the martyred Halimi; that, too, was cut down. Now the third tree has been cut down, and the culprits, unsurprisingly, were two Muslim brothers from Tunisia, illegally in France, and both with criminal records. They were caught by the police, who had tracked them through the DNA that had been found on slices of watermelon left by the tree stump, as they went to revisit the scene of their crime.
The same week, a granite stone marking the death of French Jews was defaced in Lyon with the anti-Israel and antisemitic sentiment “Free Gaza,” which, rightly understood, is an expression of support for the terror group Hamas, which Israel has been fighting in Gaza ever since October 7, 2023, ever since 6,000 Hamas members smashed into Israel and proceeded to rape, torture, mutilate, and kill 1,200 Israelis. This occurred at a time when antisemitic attacks are at an all-time high in France, and French Jews will anxious and isolated. Their president, Emmanuel Macron, has done nothing to calm their fears. Instead, he has decided to reward Hamas for its terror campaign by announcing that he will recognize the “state of Palestine,” an announcement that set off a flurry of similar declarations from, among others, Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the U.K., Prime Minister Mark Carney in Canada, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Australia. The American ambassador to France, Jerome Kushner, wrote an open letter to Macron, accusing him of not doing enough to fight antisemitism, and of rewarding terrorism by announcing his intention to recognize a “state of Palestine.” The French government angrily rejected the letter, describing it as “unacceptable.” It was in this environment that the monument in Lyon to the martyred Jews of France who were shipped on French trains to Nazi death camps, was defaced, with “Free Gaza” etched into its face. More on this latest antisemitic act can be found here: “Lyon spate of antisemitic incidents: Teen attacked near synagogue, Holocaust memorial defaced,” by Michael Starr, Jerusalem Post, August 31, 2025:
Lyon saw a spate of antisemitic incidents in recent weeks, with a young teenage Jewish boy assaulted outside a synagogue last Friday and a Holocaust memorial and World War II memorial vandalized with graffiti on Sunday.
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Prefect Fabienne Buccio confirmed on social media on Monday that police had opened an investigation into the assault on the teenager.
Le Progres reported that the 14-year-old had been leaving the Lyon synagogue when he was approached by a man. The alleged attacker began to insult the boy with antisemitic remarks before beating him. The Jewish teenager managed to flee, but reportedly suffered bruising and walked with a limp.
Buccio assured that the Jewish community had her support.
“Antisemitism is a poison that has no place in our Republic,” Buccio said on X. “State services combat it with determination at every moment and throughout our territory.”
Lyon Deputy Mayor Mohamed Chihi said on Bluesky on Monday that anyone who attacks a child because they are Jewish is a coward….
Lyon Mayor Gregory Doucet promised that the perpetrator would be sought and prosecuted.
“Lyon remains steadfast in the face of hatred, antisemitism, and racism,” Doucet said on Facebook. “Nothing can undermine our determination to pass on our memories and defend the values of peace, justice, and fraternity.”…
It is good that the local officials, Mayor Doucet and Prefect Buccio, to a man (and woman), have expressed their sympathy, their outrage, and their determination to punish those who commit these antisemitic acts. But it is President Macron who has set the tone, with his crocodile tears over antisemitic acts, with his outrage at Ambassador Kushner for raising the issue of his insufficient response to antisemitism, and above all, with his reward to Hamas’ terror by announcing his imminent recognition of a “state of Palestine.” No wonder that many French Jews, who have contributed so much to the wellbeing of France, and for fifty years after the end of World War II enjoyed a kind of golden age of tolerance, are now contemplating aliyah. They are in varying states of anxiety and dread, and do not feel that at the national level they have the sympathy, or the understanding, of their leaders. And they know that the millions of Muslims who are now living in their midst wish them ill, and much much worse. |
