Posted on 02/25/2006 4:18:49 PM PST by freespirited
One day last month, a young woman entered the Paris mobile phone shop where Ilan Halimi worked. She had no interest in a phone, according to police. She wanted to flirt with the 23-year-old salesman. She left with Halimi's phone number, and soon after, the two arranged a date.
Last week, French police found Halimi -- the son of Jewish Moroccan immigrants -- near a railroad track in a southern Parisian suburb. His naked body was covered with cigarette burns and he was handcuffed. He died in an ambulance on the way to the hospital.
French police initially described the brutal kidnapping and killing as a crime-for-cash perpetrated by a gang calling itself "The Barbarians." It routinely used young women to lure unsuspecting victims.
But in ensuing days, family members, Jewish organizations and a French magistrate labeled the killing a hate crime, directed against Halimi because of his religion. Many have cited the torture and reports that the gang's suspected leader was later arrested in a Muslim neighborhood in Ivory Coast, West Africa.
In a country that experienced a surge in anti-Semitic attacks, most blamed on Muslims, in the first years of the current Palestinian uprising against Israel, top politicians have rallied to condemn the crime. ...
"Ilan's death may be an isolated action, but it is also a wake-up call," said Sarah Aizenman, a representative of the French Union of Jewish Students.
"The engine wasn't anti-Semitism, but the fuel certainly was," said Michel Wieviorka, author of "The Anti-Semitic Temptation: The Hatred of Jews in Today's France."
"It was based on the idea that the Jews are wealthy, and that if the boy doesn't pay, the community will," Wieviorka said.
Ruth Halimi, the victim's mother, told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, "If Ilan hadn't been Jewish he wouldn't have been murdered."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
It is looking weirder and weirder all the time for European Jews. We definently want them...but they will be socialists all the way...
Well, you're right that they'll be lefty on social issues. But they'll have had recent experience with islamofascists, and that will make them hawks re: military and foreign policy. That makes them worth their weight in gold.
Anyway, regardles of their politics, we'll take them. Cultured European Jews make a fine addition to our demographic makeup, especially compared to some recent arrivals.
France is even worse. One of those enlightened places with no death penalty.
If we ever see a Demrat President again; we too will join the enlightened of Europe. . .
Unless, of course. . .the 'new' European has their way; in which case crime. . .as well as the punishment will both speak to the dark ages in Europe. . .
Johm Hinderaker/Powerlineblog.com/ adds this. . .re Ilan Halimi's murderer:
I'm Glad Someone's Looking After His Rights
The alleged leader of the gang that murdered Ilan Halimi has been arrested in Ivory Coast, and French authorities are moving to extradite him for trial in France. No Pasaran!, a group blog some of whose members, at least, live in France, has been following the story in the French media:
Just 10 minutes ago on French cable TV i-Tele some jackass from an umpteenth French Human Rights group was moaning that this guy cannot be extradited from the Ivory Coast without violating his human rights. The French media machine is in overdrive in what is shaping up to be a succesful bait-and-switch on who the real victim is here as they quelch all media echos of anti-Semitism in this affair.
What is it about "human rights" groups that seems to make them insensitive to human rights?
/Posted by John at 02:05 PM | Permalink/
The lonesome death of Ilan Halimi
[excerpt]. . .
JOHN adds: I rarely have occasion to correct my partners, but it isn't quite accurate to say that Halimi was tortured and murdered last week. It isn't accurate because he was tortured for three weeks before finally, and mercifully, dying of burns and other wounds that covered 80% of his body.
This is a horrific story, and while the facts haven't fully emerged, it seems almost certain that neighbors of the gang who abducted and abused Halimi were well aware of what was going on, and there are reports that some of them joined in. Islamist propaganda was found in the apartment where Halimi was held.
It is painful, but necessary, to contemplate the raw evil on display here. Posted by Scott at 09:18 PM | Permalink
Scott includes the following as well:
[. . .I noted stories related to Halimi's death in "The fear factor" and "More on the death of Ilan Halimi." Michelle Malkin has a complete set of links updating the story and commenting in "The funeral for Ilan Halimi." Especially provocative is Caroline Glick's Jerusalem Post column "Ilan Halimi and Israel."]
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