Wiesenthal Centre calls for "End to the Culture of Apology that Treats French Islamist Perpetrators as Psychiatric Cases Rather Than Hate-Crime Terrorists"

"Madam Minister, does it take not even the murder of a Jew qua Jew - as in the case of Dr. Sarah Hallmi - to be recognized as an act of antisemitism? Are kidnapping, armed robbery, rape, tortureand murder based on religious affinity insufficient?"

"Further procrastination in addressing the murder of Jews as if they were simply targets of the insane or the greedy will register as indifference to their fate... The perpetrator must bearraigned, charged and a date set for his trial without further delay."

Read related article in Algemeiner, Jewish Human Rights Group Calls on NewFrench Justice Minister to Treat Sarah Halimi Murder as ‘Hate Crime Terrorism’

Paris, 2 July 2017

In a letter to newly appointed French Justice Minister, Nicole Belloubet, Simon Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, noted:

- his 5 April 2017 letter to all French Presidential candidates, protesting "the previous day's murder of a 66 year-old Jewish retired doctor, Sarah Halimi in the 11th district of Paris. Thealleged Jihadist assassin , Kobili Traore, reportedly beat Dr. Halimi for a full hour before throwing her over a third floor balcony to her death, while he was screaming 'Allahu Akbar", adding,"Police called to the scene apparently remained outside, claiming that they could not locate the apartment from which emanated the antisemitic abuse and the screams of its victim."... "Our lettercalled for an end to the culture of apology that treats Islamist perpetrators as psychiatric cases rather than hate-crime terrorists".

- on 20 February 2006, in a letter to then French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, we had expressed "our shock at the kidnapping, torture and murder of Ilan Halimi in a Paris suburb"..."Primarily , the police presented the perpetrators as 'petty criminals', though their Islamist antisemitic motivation was self-evident"..."The fact that Koranic verses were read in Internetdemands for Ilan's ransom, the images of him presented in Isis-style hood and the ghoulish mutilation of his body should have been acknowledged especially in the context of the admission by theArab girl sent to entrap him: 'My mission was to kidnap a Jew' ".

- on 22 February 2007, "we wrote to your predecessor, Justice Minister Jean-Jacques Urvoas, to express outrage at the ruling to dismiss the case and the 'antisemitic character' of a 2014 attackon a Jewish couple"..."Three men had broken into their home in the Paris suburb of Creteil, beating the couple, tying them and raping the young wife - while overheard to claim that they attackJews because 'they have money'. One month earlier the same three reportedly assaulted an elderly Jew in the same neighbourhood."

- in the 2015 "HyperCasher supermarket attack, no one dared to argue that the four dead Jews were victims of anything but antisemitism."..."Madam Minister, does it take not even the murder of aJew qua Jew - as in the case of Dr. Sarah Hallmi - to be recognized as an act of antisemitism? Are kidnapping, armed robbery, rape, torture and murder based on religious affinity insufficient?"

The letter lamented that "Dr.Halimi's Jihadist murderer,since April, still languishes in a psychiatric hospital in an effort to determine whether he is,indeed, criminally insane and thus unableto stand trial."..."After throwing her over the balcony, Traore - ironically her neighbour in the same building - reportedly opened the door to give himself up to the police, stating : 'I killedthe Sheitan' (Arabic for Satan, and commonly used to mean Jew)"

The Centre stressed that "media silence, the lack of an indictment and the very thought of dismissal by the investigating magistrate, is an abuse of the human rights of Jewish victims ofantisemitism and an encouragement to further Jihadist terrorism."

"Madam Minister, from Ilan Halimi to Sarah Halimi, further procrastination in addressing the murder of Jews as if they were simply targets of the insane or the greedy. will register asindifference to their fate...
Traore must be arraigned, charged and a date set for his trial without further delay," concluded Samuels.

For further information call Shimon Samuels at 0033609770158, join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, orfollow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent direct to your Twitter feed.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is anNGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).