The murder was carried out by a man named Kobili Traoré who not only shouted “Allahu akhbar,” a religious declaration often used by Islamist extremists when killing non-Muslims, but then claimed to have “killed the Satan.”
Yet the perpetrator has not faced a trial, because in France if a person uses a small amount of marijuana or other drugs before committing murder, he gets to walk free.
To his credit, French President Emmanuel Macron has called to change the law. “Deciding to take drugs and then ‘becoming mad’ should not, in my eyes, remove your criminal responsibility,” Macron told Le Figaro in an interview published Sunday.
One wonders though why a Jewish person had to pay the price for laws like these that always seem to enable the killing of Jews with impunity. It leads us to wonder whether, had this been an elderly woman from a different faith or family, French law would have found a way to imprison the murderer.
Jewish blood is often cheap in Europe, and it has been that way for 2,000 years, which is one of the reasons we have Israel, a country where elderly Jewish women can be sure that they have the highest protections to live securely, as much as the state can provide them.
The fact that the man shouted religious slogans during the killing provides evidence that this was not just a random drug-fueled murder. Throughout history Jews have been murdered for blood libels, hacked to death by Crusaders, and stuffed into gas chambers and crematoriums. In recent years, France’s Jews have often been targeted by Islamist extremists. For instance, in 2012 a Jewish school in Toulouse was targeted by a murderer who filmed the killing of a teacher and children. Mohammed Merah, the murderer, shouted “Allahu akhbar” while killing others during his campaign of terror.
Then, in 2015, four people were killed at a kosher supermarket in Paris. That attack was also mistakenly dismissed as “randomly shoot[ing] a bunch of folks in a deli” by former US president Barack Obama. One wonders again whether, had they not been Jews but another minority group, and had they been targeted in a unique traditional food store, it would have been labeled “random.”
It was not random when France’s “Gang of Barbarians” murdered Ilan Halimi in 2006. He was targeted for being Jewish, and during the trial the ringleader of the murderers claimed “all the Jews in the world are enemies,” a statement we Jews have heard before.
Unfortunately, in France there is a long list of wannabe Hitlers who have targeted our people, from Ilan Halimi, to Sarah Halimi. The difference is that the law has now decided in France that so long as people have taken a bit of drugs, they are no longer responsible for their murderous actions. Any “angry” person can now murder a Jew in France and claim he took drugs beforehand and have a reasonable chance of walking free.
While it is a positive step that Macron has called for the law to change, it is years too late. Macron has said that he wants to assure the family and relatives of the victim and all fellow citizens of the Jewish faith that they have his support. Then why do they keep getting murdered in France?
Jews make up a small, historic minority in France. Many have left the country over the years for Israel, the United States or Canada, seeking to build a new life. They shouldn’t have to flee for safety or put up more bars and walls around their synagogues to feel safe.
It’s not enough to change a failed law that enables people to murder so long as they are “high.” Society in France should have been educated long ago not to hate Jews and not to call Jews “Satan.” Crimes of people shouting “God is great” while killing members of another faith should be prosecuted as religious-inspired hate crimes. The excuses have to stop.