Jewish man's killer confesses (Anti-Semitism had nothing to do with it -- Right)

Abidjan - A Paris gang-leader was arrested overnight in Abidjan and has confessed to the kidnap, torture and murder of a young French Jewish man, Ivorian investigators said on Thursday, in a case that has horrified France.

Youssouf Fofana, 25, could be extradited back to France by the end of the day, according to French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin.

Fofana is believed to have fled to Ivory Coast shortly after the dying Ilan Hamili was found on February 11 outside the French capital.

"He has French nationality. He has been arrested by the Ivorian police. (French) police investigators are on the scene, so we believe he could be repatriated to France in the coming hours," said Villepin.

"This is an odious crime, and it is therefore important that justice be rapidly carried out," he said.

Ivorian police officials said that Fofana - a convicted petty criminal of Ivorian origin - had admitted taking part in Halimi's kidnapping and murder. But they said that "he denies any anti-Semitic dimension" to the crime.

Halimi, a 23-year-old telephone salesman, went missing in late January after being lured into a trap by a woman.

He was held and tortured for three weeks in a poor multi-ethnic suburb of Paris by a gang that sent ransom demands to his family.

Ten days ago he was dumped beside a railway line just south of Paris city centre. Naked, bound and gagged, his body bore horrific injuries and he died on the way to hospital.

The crime struck horror in France's 500 000-strong Jewish community, where it was widely assumed Halimi had been targeted because he was Jewish.

Chirac telephoned Halimi's parents Tuesday to promise them that "everything shall be done to make sure those responsible for this act of barbarity are traced, caught and punished."

Investigators believe the gang - which called itself the "barbarians" - had made several failed attempts to extort money.

According to Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, four out of six previous targets were Jewish, who were chosen because of the belief that "Jews have money".

The left-wing Liberation newspaper said: "Hatred of the Jews has left the category of the unacceptable to become something normal - especially in the eyes of many young people."

I have to disagree with you on this.
Here's Sarkozy's quote:
According to Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, four out of six previous targets were Jewish, who were chosen because of the belief that "Jews have money".
I just don't see what the jews gain by insisting on the 'anti-semetic' nature of the thing. They were looking for money, thought Jews would come up with it, and targetted mostly Jews, but 2 non-Jews. They are animals, and if the one who they had caught had been a non-jew would the Jews be any less outraged?
There is a march this Sunday from Place de la République to Place Bastille and I'm going to go with the kids to walk as a fellow human being.
Something is wrong with the youth in France. They are really barbarians! and what about all those neighbors!

"I just don't see what the jews gain by insisting on the 'anti-semetic' nature of the thing.~"

This sentence in and of itself is utterly offensive intimating as it does that "the Jews" are attempting to gain something by this horrific murder.

"They are animals, and if the one who they had caught had been a non-jew would the Jews be any less outraged?"

How you do twist things around to try and put Jews in a less than favourable light

These are some of the relevant points:

1) France has an horrific history of the most vile anti-Semitism from the Dreyfus trial to her collaboration in World War II to her current virulently anti-Israeli policy.

2) When anti-Semitism first swept France a few years ago the government did absolutely nothing and continued to do nothing for years.

3) Anti-Semitism has once again gone mainstream in France. French Jews are abused on the streets. "Dirty Jew" has become a commonplace in French schools. Jewish children have been regularly attacked on French streets. Indeed, this very point was made by a major French newspaper today.

4) While the victim may or may not have been kidnapped because he was a Jew (and to target someone on the basis that "all Jews are wealthy" is to rely on one of the oldest and most vicious anti-Semitic stereotypes), it is becoming apparent that he was murdered because he was Jewish. It is also now known that at least one of the gang tortured him in the most brutal fashion possible precisely because he was a Jew.

5) Many French Jews no longer feel safe living in France. This murder could well be the tipping point for many of them.

European gentiles love to overlook Jewish suffering; it makes them feel so much better about themselves. That is why for so many years the precise ethnicity of the people who were shipped out to the death camps was not mentioned in much of Europe. Thus your desire to play down the anti-Semitic aspect of all of this, even going so far as to say that you will march not in solidarity with the Jewish people but merely out of sympathy for a fellow human being, is all of a piece with this.

I look forward to a time when most Jews have left your accursed country - a country which did not deserve any Jewish contribution, a country which betrayed her Jewish citizens at every twist and turn, a country which has made a tradition over indifference to anti-Semitism, a country which has allowed an atmosphere to develop in which a young Jewish man could be murdered in such terrible circumstances.

Once again, Jews die and France yawns.

I know that it's easy to misunderstand my point.
The fact the this group aimed at ransoming their victims means that they were looking for money. To say that ("all Jews are wealthy" is relying on one of the oldest and most vicious anti-Semitic stereotypes), is kind of silly because having money is not a vicious anti-semitic stereotype.
I live here, I see what's going on, I just don't see the benefit, when the President himself makes a gesture to console the family, to INSIST on the anti-semitic nature of the crime when this gang targetted money, not Jews.
Where I do agree is the mind set of this gang, their sickness, the sadistic leader's cruelty,(and the fact that he became more sadistic because of the religion of the boy I haven't seen anywhere, where did you read that?)
Do you happen to know the ethnicity of the previous victim? (The one who's father was beaten in place of the son) If he was not Jewish, and there is no equal disgust on the part of the marchers on Sunday, I think that this is a miscalculation on the part of the Jewish community.
Why do you end with 'France Yawns'? Were you in Brooklyn when those Arabs attacked the Jewish school bus on the entry to the Brooklyn Bridge? Do you know what the family of the murdered boy had to do to get this recognised? France has been leading with this story almost all week, an INTERFAITH march is scheduled on Sunday. I'll criticise France faster than anyone when I feel it's due, but the automatic stereotypes about the French just tire me.

"I live here, I see what's going on"

And I live in London. I have many Jewish relatives and friends in France and spend much time there. Close relatives were betrayed by their neighbours, rounded up by the French police taken to the French-run Drancy, and then dispatched to death camps on French trains with French drivers. I know exactly what is going on.

"If he was not Jewish, and there is no equal disgust on the part of the marchers on Sunday, I think that this is a miscalculation on the part of the Jewish community."

And with that comment above, I know exactly where you are coming from and I refuse utterly to have anything further to do with you. Believe what you want, I couldn't care less.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.