Free Republic

After a Sensational Crime, a Trial Marked by Quiet By MEG BORTIN May 17, 2009 PARIS — In the two and a half weeks since 27 people went on trial here for the brutal 2006 kidnapping, torture and killing of a young Jewish man, little has filtered out about the proceedings. Despite the sensational nature of the case and the serious issues it has raised — from the rise of anti-Semitism in some sectors of French society to the way the police handled the investigation — the French are essentially unable to follow the courtroom drama because of a law...

Ris-Orangis, France -- Flanked by a Baptist church and a Muslim cultural center, the slate-gray synagogue in this Paris suburb is a fragile beacon of religious tolerance. A poster hangs outside, announcing an interfaith concert. The unofficial headquarters of a 2-year-old Jewish-Muslim friendship association is located inside. But among Jews in Ris-Orangis and elsewhere in France, tolerance is a scarce commodity these days. Ever since a 23-year-old Jew named Ilan Halimi was dumped -- stabbed, handcuffed, naked and dying -- near a railway line outside Paris on Feb. 13, many Jews say anti-Semitism is resurging in France. "The Jewish community...

The "bait" used to lure French Jew Ilan Halimi to the Paris suburb where he was abducted was a 16-year-old girl of Iranian descent captured by police over the weekend, Israel's leading newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported Sunday. Police officials characterized her as a "pretty girl…who attempted to seduce several Jewish youngsters before she met Halimi." The girl was detained at a Paris suburb. On Thursday, police in the Ivory Coast nabbed the main suspect in the brutal murder, Youssouf Fofana, who fled France after serving as the gang leader and presiding over the abduction, torture, and murder of the Jewish...