Rivlin to Macron: After Sarah Halimi, send message against antisemitism
“I heard with sorrow of the decision of the French Supreme Court to confirm the decision that the accused in the antisemitic, brutal and terrible murder of Sarah Halimi is unfit to stand trial."
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFFrench President Emmanuel Macron and President Reuven Rivlin at the Palais de l’Elysee in Paris, France. (photo credit: AMOS BEN-GERSHOM/GPO)
President Reuven Rivlin sent a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron Wednesday regarding the French court's decision on Sarah Halimi's killer's liability for her death.“I heard with sorrow of the decision of the French Supreme Court to confirm the decision of the lower courts that the accused in the antisemitic, brutal and terrible murder of Sarah Halimi is unfit to stand trial," said the letter.“I appreciate your ethical and legal position and your determination to introduce an amendment to the criminal code. Your quick and clear response sends a clear message to the family of the victim and to France as a whole that law as it currently stands is deficient, and that deficiency has allowed a despicable murderer to evade justice and punishment.“The facts of the case are accepted: Dr. Sarah Halimi was a victim of a despicable murder by a cruel murderer because she was Jewish, and everything must be done to send a clear message that there is, and will not, be any tolerance of sick and despicable antisemitism and attacks on Jews because of their ethnicity and religion.”On April 14, France’s highest court determined that Kobili Traore, a 31-year-old Muslim man, was not criminally liable for his actions on April 7, 2017, when he violently beat Halimi, his 65-year-old Jewish neighbor, while screaming “Allahu akhbar” (God is great) and then threw her out of her third-floor window to her death.
