French leaders are denouncing a brazen act of antisemitic vandalism after a memorial tree honoring Ilan Halimi — a young Jewish man tortured to death in 2006 — was cut down overnight in a Paris suburb.

The olive tree, planted in 2011 in Epinay-sur-Seine as a living tribute to Halimi, was found felled — likely with a chainsaw — between Wednesday night and Thursday morning, according to local officials. It is the second time the memorial has been targeted; the tree was previously chopped down in 2019.

Prime Minister François Bayrou called the destruction “antisemitic hatred” and a direct attack on memory. “The tree for Ilan Halimi, a living bulwark against oblivion, has been cut down by antisemitic hatred,” Bayrou wrote on X. “No crime can eradicate memory. The never-ending fight against the deadly poison of hatred is our primary duty.”

Epinay-sur-Seine Mayor Hervé Chevreau said he has filed a criminal complaint, while Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez condemned the “despicable act” and pledged, “Everything will be done to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice.”

Halimi’s murder remains one of France’s most notorious antisemitic crimes. On January 20, 2006, the 23-year-old was lured by a teenage girl into a housing estate basement in Bagneux, where he was subdued with ether by a gang led by Youssouf Fofana. Believing his family to be wealthy because he was Jewish, the group held Halimi captive for ransom, subjecting him to 24 days of torture before abandoning him naked and handcuffed to a tree near railway tracks. He died en route to the hospital on February 13, 2006.

The killing sparked national outrage, with tens of thousands marching in Paris to demand justice after authorities initially hesitated to label it a hate crime. Fofana was later sentenced to life in prison.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)