guest column
by Rabbi Chalom Boudjnah

the Halimi murder

When you think of Paris, lovely things probably come to mind. The City of lights The Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. There is the music, the food, the countless museums. These days, however, when I think of Paris, I can only think of Ilan Halimi.

Halimi was kidnapped on Jan. 20 and held for 24 days by a gang from the banlieues, Halimi was lured into a dinner date by a pretty young woman who approached him at the cell phone store where he worked. He was kept naked, hooded and tortured for over three weeks, during which one ear was removed as well as one of his fingers. He was eventually stabbed set alive on fire. Halimi was found on Feb. 13th near the railroad tracks in the Essonne region south of Paris, barely breathing. He died en route to the hospital.

There is no question that this was a hate crime. Halimi was captured because the French-Arab and African-Muslim gang who kidnapped him believed that “all Jews are rich.” French interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy revealed that some suspects possessed extreme Islamic and pro-Palestinian literature and documents. What they confessed to the police further confirmed the apprehension that Halimi was subjected to barbaric abuse because he was a Jew.

His uncle, Rafi Halimi, told reporters that the gang phoned the family on several occasions and made them listen to the recitation of verses from the Koran, while Halimi’s tortured screams could be heard in the background.

Halimi was an ordinary 23-year-old French boy. He loved life, he loved to go out with his friends, he had a family and his whole life in front of him. His only sin was that he was a Jew living in Paris.

But don't think that this is the first time that something like this happened in France. In November of 2003, a Jewish disc jockey by the name of Sebastien Selam was killed by his Muslim neighbor. Adel Boumedienn slit his throat, nearly decapitating him, and then gouged out his eyes with a carving fork in his building's underground parking garage. Boumedieen then went upstairs and reportedly told his mother, “I killed my Jew, I will go to paradise.”

I lived in Paris for 20 years. I grew up there and I myself have been attacked by Arab-Muslims wielding knives and bottles and screaming “dirty Jew”. As a kid walking by a group of Arab-Muslims, I would actually expect to be physically or verbally attacked. I always had my Yarmulke on but it was hard to be Jewish and to be proud of it.

The lesson that we must remember in this country is that the situation in American and Israel is rare. In Europe, it is not possible for Jews to be free and proud, to walk without fear. In memory of Ilan Halimi, and of all those who have been subjected to anti-Semitism, I say this: we must continue to fight, to ensure that the freedom we enjoy in America is duplicated for everyone around the world. None of our children should ever have to endure the fate that came so cruelly to Ilan Halimi.

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