Ilan Halimi and ordinary anti-semitism

Yesterday, as I said, there were so many police and CRS (riot police) in downtown Paris that the traffic was stalled for hours. One reason was the student demonstration, another was a demonstration for the freedom of Ingrid Betancourt, a Frenchwoman who was running for the presidency of Colombia, South America, when she was kidnapped four years ago yesterday by the druglord guerrillas of FARC.

Another reason that the cops were there was that at 6:30 p.m. there was a public ceremony at the main Paris synagogue in memory of Ilan Halimi. This young man of 23 was kidnapped and tortured to death over three weeks by a group of mostly French-Muslim origin, but including a young blond woman, that called itself the Gang des Barbares (gang of barbarians). This is the big news in France at the moment.

There is a controversy in France about whether Ilan was murdered because he was Jewish; the murder is being investigated as a possible racist crime, which increases the penalty. To me and to most outside observers, it seems obvious that it was an anti-semitic crime. (Anti-semitism is a misnomer because Arabs are also Semites; but it's the normal term.) The motive was first of all money, but the gang members firmly believed that "un juif, c'est riche" and that the Jewish community would come to Ilan's aid if his family could not pay the ransom. Apparently the gang had earlier tried to lure another Jewish victim into a kidnapping, but the man escaped when neighbors heard him screaming and called the police; the police found him at the bottom of a staircase, handcuffed and bleeding, a stolen car waiting just outside with its trunk open. The presence of the President of France at the memorial service also implies that  Ilan was not a random victim.

The "brain" of the gang, Youssuf Fofana, has just been arrested after fleeing to the Ivory Coast. He claims they kidnapped Ilan just for the money, but he would say that, wouldn't he? Fofana will probably be extradited next week, as it appears he does not have an Ivoirian passport, but is a French citizen.

What has appalled me is that so many French commentators think it was normal stupidity rather than race prejudice for Ilan to have been kidnapped because he was Jewish.

I am not Jewish, and I have heard outrageously anti-Semitic remarks here in Paris. My first year here, I let them pass, thinking it was not my place to fight. Then I was too disgusted. The last straw was when a woman I knew quite well, and had liked, told a dinner-party full of people, as a fact, that at bar-mitzvahs, a Jewish father initiated his son sexually.

To my relief, the other people present objected too. "Tiens, tu as l'air presque anti-sémite, là," remarked one of them sarcastically, and the atmosphere grew chilly and heavy in the room. The woman hastily backtracked and said, "That's what I heard." But can you imagine such a remark in an American living room? I can't.

In my own experience, there is far more ordinary anti-semitism in France than I ever encountered in my first 30 years living all over the United States-- where the worst remark I ever heard was my own grandfather complaining about the "niggers, the Jews and the Republicans" back in pre-Republican, 1960s Louisiana, and a West Virginian child casually referring to "jewing someone down" over the price (years later he told me I had surprised him by objecting to what to him was an ordinary word, but that he had never used the expression again).

Not long ago, I even waded into a very old man, over 80, who is not going to change his ways, when he dropped a bit of anti-semitism into the conversation. He nodded at my intervention, then said, "Yes, yes, Jews are very nice."

He held up his index finger. "At first."

Comments

[deb]

Your comment, "Anti-semitism is a misnomer because Arabs are also Semites; but it's the normal term" is right on. It appalls me that so few people understand this. But, as you have found, colloquial phrasing often couches falsehoods and half-truths.

The more I learn about France, the more I understand the separation of thought between our two cultures.

[Laza]

you write: "To me and to most outside observers, it seems obvious that it was an anti-semitic crime."

How can you conclude this so easily?

[Sedulia]

Because "un juif, c'est riche."

[Laza]

I don't understand this post and it's comments... :( Read what a Canadian source says about it :http://www.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/International/2006/02/24/005-France-affaire-Halimi.shtml
"Toutefois, si les juges d'instruction considèrent le crime comme un acte antisémite, les procureurs et la police soulignent l'absence d'idéologie, religieuse ou politique, chez les accusés."

[Jessica]

I've noticed the undercurrent of anti-semitism in France too. I've always attributed it to the general french disdain for all religions, which *can* turn into an ugly intolerance. But I've always thought that I wouldn't want to be Jewish and live there.

[marco]

"I have heard outrageously anti-Semitic remarks here in Paris".

I guess it probably depends on where you live, and who you hang out with. And sure, this might be the case for ultra-conservative Paris 16eme. And sure, maybe you get to hear this kind of things less often with people you hang out with in the US.

But as far as my experience is concerned, I lived in France for 25 years and never heard any fellow student, friend or coworker say anything about jewish people. Not even a reference. Maybe you should contextualize a bit more what you are saying.

[Sedulia]

I'm glad that you have never heard this kind of remark, Marco. It's a relief to know there are groups where it is absent. But it's just not the "ultra-conservative Paris 16th" (a lot of cliches about the 16th are not particularly true of people I know) who is making these remarks in my hearing, but just ordinary French people I have met all over the city, grocery story owners and taxi drivers and shop girls talking to each other. I talk to everybody-- and sometimes I don't like what I hear.

I agree with you, Laza, that the motive of the murderers was ordinary. But HOW they chose their victim was influenced by the ordinary anti-semitism they live with.

[Neil]

As someone Jewish, I've been following this story with interest. Here's what I think, even though it is only my opinion. I'd love to hear if you think I'm wrong:

The biggest complaint that my French Jewish friends have is similar to that of the French Muslims: unless one is wealthy and assimilated, minorities have a harder time being accepted as fully French. Clearly, there are many prominent French Jews, but there is pressure to assimilate to "Frenchness." It is not uncommon to be thought of as a Jew, even though you're as French as the next guy. American society is basically an immigrant one. Even with all of the problems in America, your rarely hear the racism or anti-Semitism that I have heard coming from someone French. The way I see it, the French like to hold on to their French ideal. This is what makes French culture so beautiful and interesting to the rest of the world, but it is also prone to be less than hospitable to multi-culturalism, fearing the loss of the uniqueness of France. And Jews are frequently the historical scapegoat, from the Dreyfeuss Case until now -- especially now that there is a large Muslim population that needs to be dealt with using sensitivity.

[Fern Sidman]

Murder of French Jew not isolated incident
by Fern Sidman

The gang that kidnapped, tortured and brutally murdered Ilan Halimi, 23, had threatened several prominent businessmen, lawyers and a well-known humanitarian activist, a French newspaper reported Saturday. The daily Liberation reported that the group behind the murder, which authorities have linked to anti-Semitism, tried to extort money from a founder of Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders. Also targeted were the director of the Arte TV channel, a Paris lawyer and the head of a supermarket chain, the newspaper reported, citing police officials.

Police investigating the murder of Halimi earlier this month have made several arrests. The suspected gang leader, was arrested Wednesday in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, and France is seeking his extradition. Fourteen people have been placed under investigation - a step short of being charged - in the case, and two more people were detained Friday for questioning.

Ilan Halimi was abducted on January 21 after a woman came into the mobile phone store where he worked and charmed him into a dinner date. The first break in the case came after the police released an Identikit image of the woman suspected of "baiting" Halimi. After turning herself in our of fears that neighbors would identify her, the woman claimed that she was indeed asked to seduce a number of young men, but was unaware of the act's purpose. She identified the apartment where Halimi had been kept.

Halimi was found on February 13, tied to a tree, naked, wounded, handcuffed, gagged and covered with burn and cut marks on 80 percent of his body. Authorities found Halimi near railroad tracks in the Essonne region south of Paris a few days after the kidnappers ended contact with Halimmi's family. He died en route to a hospital.

"They acted with indescribable cruelty," the judiciary police chief leading the investigation said. "They kept him naked and tied up for weeks. They cut him and in the end poured flammable liquid on him and set him alight."

Halimi's family received a series of ransom demands - starting with one for nearly $537,000. Ilan Halimi's mother revealed to the Haaretz newspaper that the police told the family to ignore the gang's attempts to contact them for five critical days, after which Ilan was found near death outside the city. "Five days before Ilan was found, the police told us, 'Don't answer the phone, don't repond to text messages.' We saw dozens of calls and ignored them. On Thursday they found Ilan dead."

"We think there is anti-Semitism in this affair," Rafi Halimi, Ilan's uncle, told the press.

"First, because the killers tried to kidnap at least two other Jews, and second, because of what they said on the phone," Rafi Halimi added. "When we said we didn't have 500,000 euros to give them they told us to go to the synagogue and get it," Rafi said. "They also recited verses from the Koran."

Under questioning by investigators, one of the suspects "made it clear that he had attacked Ilan Halimi 'because he was Jewish, and Jews are rich".

"If Ilan hadn't been Jewish, he wouldn't have been murdered," Ilan's mom said. She accuses the police of ignoring the anti-Semitic motivation in the case in order not to alienate Muslims, Haaretz reported.

According to a recent article on this subject by Caroline Glick, she states, "It appears that Ilan Halimi's murderers had some connection to Hamas. Tuesday, French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said that police found propaganda published by the Palestinian Charity Committee or the CBSP at the home of one of the suspects. The European Jewish Press reported this week that Israel has alleged that the organization is a front group for Palestinian terrorists and that in August 2003 the US government froze the organization's US bank accounts, accusing it of links with Hamas."

It is clear that the French authorities remain callous and indifferent when it comes to Jews being murdered on their soil or anywhere else. This attitude was evidenced in their initial denial that anti-Semitism played a role in this murder and their expressed policy of ignoring any evidence of anti-Semitism.

This may be the first act of Hamas terrorism directed against a Jew outside of Israel, but clearly it won't be the last. Everyday, we are being saturated with the anti-Semitic diatribes of an Iranian President named Ahmadnajed, of Hamas leaders and leading intellectuals. We can no longer deny it. Anti-Semitism is in full swing. It can only get worse.

[Zardoz]

When I read Fern Sidman contribution I understand that the sole fact to question if this murder was antisemitic is antisemitic. Okay be it !

The fact that the "gang of barbarians" tried to abduct ther people (not all of them jewish) and tried to obtain money from rich and important people by threatening them (not all of them jewish) should be taken into consideration (sorry for my english).

These "barbarians" have antisemtic prejudice, that's true but they would have killed and tortured anybody just for the fun of it. If their victim would have been christian, I'm not sure Chirac would have attend the funerals, is that fair ?

[Neil]

"If their victim would have been christian, I'm not sure Chirac would have attend the funerals, is that fair?"

You're probably right that Chirac wouldn't have gone if the person was Christian. Christians aren't a minority in France. With the increase in anti-semitism, it is good when a leader makes a public record of being against it. In the States, this month is Black History Month. We don't have a White History Month because that's the already the norm. Fair? Not really. But important as a educational and societal tool.

[jessie]

thanks for this post