Political Islam in France and the World

Political Islam, a new name for radical Islam, is what is being blamed for he brutal torture and death of Ilan Halimi. Halimi, 23 years old, was kidnapped, tortured and killed by a terrorist gang of French Muslims. "Halimi was kidnapped January 21 and was held for three weeks; he was tortured in the southern Paris suburb of Bagneux. On February 13, French authorities found Halimi naked, handcuffed and covered with burn marks near railroad tracks south of Paris. He died on his way to a hospital." source

Ilan Halimi was Jewish. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin told a Jewish communal gathering Monday night that officials had decided to treat the case as an act of anti-Semitism. De Villepin said the minister of justice had ordered that Halimi's torture and murder be considered "premeditated murder motivated by religious affiliation." source

At least 1,200 people demonstrated [peacefully] in Paris on Sunday to show their anger over the murder. The demonstrators shouted slogans and carried banners that read "Justice for Ilan" and "Avenge Ilan!" ...

"Over the past couple of years, many people have been talking about leaving France," she [Elbaz-Varsat, a lawyer[ said. "This might be the straw that breaks the camel's back, though that is hard to say. In their hearts, people talk about Israel, but practically speaking, most people are thinking about the United States. Myself, I want to go to California." source

Up to a dozen people have been arrested in the case. Youssouf Fofana, a French citizen, who fled France for the Ivory Coast days after Halimi's almost dead body was found, is returned to France. Fofana, who likes to call himself "Brain of Barbarians", is of North African orign like some of the other torturers. Others are from French Antilles and Portugal, and some are from families that have long lived in France.

Police said that during the investigation, some of the suspects said they had indeed chosen Halimi as their victim "because Jews are rich, and if they are not, their community will pay for their release." One of the youngest members of the gang, aged 16, reportedly admitted having tortured Ilan with a burning cigarette because the young man was Jewish. source

Jewish World Review says: From 1933-1945, the enemy was Nazi Germany. Today, it's political Islam

Anti-Semitism in the Muslim dominated suburbs of Paris and other French cities is all-encompassing. As Nidra Poller related in Thursday's Wall Street Journal, "One of the most troubling aspects of this affair is the probable involvement of relatives and neighbors, beyond the immediate circle of the gang [of kidnappers], who were told about the Jewish hostage and dropped in to participate in the torture."

It appears that Ilan Halimi's murderers had some connection to Hamas. Tuesday, French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said that police found propaganda published by the Palestinian Charity Committee or the CBSP at the home of one of the suspects. The European Jewish Press reported this week that Israel has alleged that the organization is a front group for Palestinian terrorists and that in August 2003 the US government froze the organization's US bank accounts due to its links with Hamas.

Although appalling, the absence of an official Israeli outcry against Halimi's murder is not the least surprising. Today, the unelected Kadima interim government, like the Israeli media, is doing everything in its power to lull the Israeli people into complacency towards the storm of war raging around us. Against the daily barrages of Kassam rockets on southern Israel; nervous reports of Al Qaida setting up shop in Judea, Samaria and Gaza; the ascension of Hamas to power in the Palestinian Authority; and Iran's threats of nuclear annihilation, Israel's citizenry, under the spell of Kadima and the media, appears intent on ignoring the dangers and pretending that what happens to Jews in France has nothing to do with us.

Luckily for both Israel and the Jews around the world, the current leadership is not our only option. We have other leaders, the most prominent among them being Likud Chairman Binyamin Netanyahu and former IDF chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. (res.) Moshe Ya'alon. Both of these men understand well that the two most important lessons for the Jews from the Holocaust are that we must never grant anyone else the authority, legitimacy or power to define who we are or what our rights are; and we are all responsible for one another. source

Jews around the world fear another type of Holocaust in modern times. They fear weak leaders who are too tolerant of the enemy to stand up and do what it takes to protect their people. The Jewish people believe that the history of 70 years ago does not have to be repeated.

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[Fern Sidman]

NEWS BRIEFS

BY: FERN SIDMAN

According to the JTA news wire, a yeshiva student was attacked in a Kiev subway station this past Sunday by three young men. Rabbi Moshe Asman, one of Ukraine's chief rabbis, said the student was attacked because he wore Orthodox Jewish garb. In August, a student from the same yeshiva was brutally beaten by a group of skinheads not far from Kiev's Central Synagogue. The student, Mordechai Molozhonov, is still recuperating at a hospital in Israel.

Meanwhile, over the weekend in a Parisian suburb, three more anti-semitic attacks were reported. On Friday afternoon, a local rabbi's 17 year old son was attacked by two men near the synagogue, and suffered a broken nose. Also on Friday afternoon, an 18 year old man was attacked by a group of five men, who insulted him and stole his cell phone.

On Saturday night, a 28 year old man wearing a Kippah was verbally and physically abused by four men and suffered a dislocated shoulder, according to police sources. The culprits were found and placed in police custody.

[Fern Sidman]

MURDER OF FRENCH JEW NOT AN ISOLATED INCIDENT

BY: FERN SIDMAN

The gang that kidnapped, tortured and brutally murdered Ilan Halimi, 23, had threatened several prominent businessmen, lawyers and a well-known humanitarian activist, a French newspaper reported Saturday. The daily Liberation reported that the group behind the murder, which authorities have linked to anti-Semitism, tried to extort money from a founder of Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders. Also targeted were the director of the Arte TV channel, a Paris lawyer and the head of a supermarket chain, the newspaper reported, citing police officials.

Police investigating the murder of Halimi earlier this month have made several arrests. The suspected gang leader, was arrested Wednesday in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, and France is seeking his extradition. Fourteen people have been placed under investigation - a step short of being charged - in the case, and two more people were detained Friday for questioning.

Ilan Halimi was abducted on January 21 after a woman came into the mobile phone store where he worked and charmed him into a dinner date. The first break in the case came after the police released an Identikit image of the woman suspected of "baiting" Halimi. After turning herself in our of fears that neighbors would identify her, the woman claimed that she was indeed asked to seduce a number of young men, but was unaware of the act's purpose. She identified the apartment where Halimi had been kept.

Halimi was found on February 13, tied to a tree, naked, wounded, handcuffed, gagged and covered with burn and cut marks on 80 percent of his body. Authorities found Halimi near railroad tracks in the Essonne region south of Paris a few days after the kidnappers ended contact with Halimmi's family. He died en route to a hospital.

"They acted with indescribable cruelty," the judiciary police chief leading the investigation said. "They kept him naked and tied up for weeks. They cut him and in the end poured flammable liquid on him and set him alight."

Halimi's family received a series of ransom demands - starting with one for nearly $537,000. Ilan Halimi's mother revealed to the Haaretz newspaper that the police told the family to ignore the gang's attempts to contact them for five critical days, after which Ilan was found near death outside the city. "Five days before Ilan was found, the police told us, 'Don't answer the phone, don't repond to text messages.' We saw dozens of calls and ignored them. On Thursday they found Ilan dead."

"We think there is anti-Semitism in this affair," Rafi Halimi, Ilan's uncle, told the press.

"First, because the killers tried to kidnap at least two other Jews, and second, because of what they said on the phone," Rafi Halimi added. "When we said we didn't have 500,000 euros to give them they told us to go to the synagogue and get it," Rafi said. "They also recited verses from the Koran."

Under questioning by investigators, one of the suspects "made it clear that he had attacked Ilan Halimi 'because he was Jewish, and Jews are rich".

"If Ilan hadn't been Jewish, he wouldn't have been murdered," Ilan's mom said. She accuses the police of ignoring the anti-Semitic motivation in the case in order not to alienate Muslims, Haaretz reported.

According to a recent article on this subject by Caroline Glick, she states, "It appears that Ilan Halimi's murderers had some connection to Hamas. Tuesday, French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said that police found propaganda published by the Palestinian Charity Committee or the CBSP at the home of one of the suspects. The European Jewish Press reported this week that Israel has alleged that the organization is a front group for Palestinian terrorists and that in August 2003 the US government froze the organization's US bank accounts, accusing it of links with Hamas."

It is clear that the French authorities remain callous and indifferent when it comes to Jews being murdered on their soil or anywhere else. This attitude was evidenced in their initial denial that anti-Semitism played a role in this murder and their expressed policy of ignoring any evidence of anti-Semitism.

This may be the first act of Hamas terrorism directed against a Jew outside of Israel, but clearly it won't be the last. Everyday, we are being saturated with the anti-Semitic diatribes of an Iranian President named Ahmadnajed, of Hamas leaders and leading intellectuals. We can no longer deny it. Anti-Semitism is in full swing. It can only get worse.