Ilan Halimi, a 23-year-old Jew from Paris, was recently kidnapped, tortured and brutally murdered. Almost immediately, the French police ruled out anti-Semitism as the motive, despite a number of important facts:
They have also said other things, that might reveal something about their own views on Jews:
“What we’re dealing with isn’t any racist or anti-semitic motive. It’s just that to their way of thinking, Jew equals money,” explained one of the crime investigators.
What I have just mentioned to you has all been covered very comprehensively by Allison. When I first read about this horrific murder and the police reaction, I was beset by a feeling of deja vu (pardon my French). After looking at my archives, I found out why I had this feeling. You see, a very similar thing happened in France over two years ago, and the police reaction was the same.
Sebastian Sellam, 23, was a popular disc jockey at a hot Parisian night club called Queen. At about 11:45 p.m. on Wednesday November 19, the young man known as DJ Lam C (a reverse play on his surname) left the apartment he shared with his parents in a modest building in of Paris’ 10th arrondissement near la Place Colonel Fabien, heading to work as usual. In the underground parking lot, a Muslim neighbor slit Sellam’s throat twice, according to the Rosenpress interview. His face was completely mutilated with a fork. Even his eyes were gouged out.
Following the crime, Rosenpress correspondent Alain Azria reported, Sellam’s mother said the Muslim perpetrator mounted the stairs, his hands still bloody, and announced his crime. “I have killed my Jew. I will go to heaven,” he reportedly said. The alleged murderer’s family was well known for rabid anti-Semitism, Mrs. Sellam reportedly told Rosenpress, a point confirmed by the victim’s brother. Within the previous year, Sellam’s mother reportedly said, the family found a dead rooster outside their apartment door with its throat slit, and their Mezuzah was ripped from their door post. Leaving dead roosters is reportedly a traditional warning of impending murder.
The homicide especially traumatized the Paris Jewish community: According to Rosenpress, another gruesome murder, also allegedly committed by a Muslim, occurred earlier that evening. Chantal Piekolek, 53, was working in her Avenue de Clichy shoe store when Mohamed Ghrib, 37, stabbed her 27 times in the neck and chest.
Piekolek’s 10-year-old daughter hid in the storeroom behind the shop with a girlfriend and heard the entire crime. There was no evidence of sexual assault, according to Rosenpress. Paris reporters believe the cash remained in the shop’s register, but this detail remained unconfirmed at press time.
A report apparently based on Le Parisien story, also appeared in France‚Äôs biggest Jewish newspaper, Actualit?© Juive, but added little. The report strangely named the DJ‚Äôs alleged murderer only by his first name. No surname was given. A reliable Paris journalist says the story is correct.
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In one [of these two cases], the police advised the family not to call the crime anti-Semitic.
Which begs the question: why are the French police accustomed to ruling out anti-Semitism as the motive for such crimes, despite a preponderance of evidence to suggest otherwise?
Update: French authorities are now admitting that anti-Semitism may have played a role in Halimi’s torture and murder. D’uh.
