Zürcher Nachrichten - Macron slams 'antisemitic hydra' as he honours 2006 Jewish murder victim

To commemorate Halimi, whose abduction and murder in 2006 horrified France, Macron planted an oak tree in the garden of the Elysee Palace, joined by Halimi's sister, Anne-Laure Abitbol.

Macron stressed that the fight against antisemitism must involve all French people, and called for a "penalty of ineligibility" for elected officials guilty of antisemitic and racist remarks.

Halimi was kidnapped by a gang of around 20 youths in January 2006 and tortured in a low-income housing estate in the Paris suburb of Bagneux. Found three weeks later, he died on the way to hospital.

The commemorations come after a diplomatic row between the United States and France broke out last year, when US ambassador Charles Kushner criticised the French government for what he said was its insufficient action against antisemitism.

"When a Jew is in danger in the homeland, it is the homeland itself that is in danger," Macron said. "We cannot airbrush French Jews out of the republic's family photo".

He said antisemitism had worsened over the past two decades.

"In 20 years, and despite the resolute efforts of our police officers, gendarmes, judges, teachers and elected officials, the antisemitic hydra has kept advancing," he said.

"Constantly assuming new faces, it has insinuated itself into the heart of our societies, into every crack, too often accompanied by that same pact of cowardice: to keep silent, to refuse to see."

- 'France needs you' -

France is home to western Europe's largest Jewish population, at around half a million people, as well as a significant Muslim community sensitive to the plight of the Palestinian people in Gaza.

Members of France's Jewish community have said the number of antisemitic acts has surged following the attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023 which triggered Israel's military response in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.

While antisemitic acts in France fell by 16 percent to 1,320 in 2025, the interior ministry said, they "have never been as high as in the last three years," accounting for 53 percent of all anti-religious incidents.

Several trees planted in Halimi's memory have been vandalised.

Macron also addressed French Jews directly, as a growing number of them are making their way to Israel.

"Never forget this. Your place is here, not simply because it is your country, but because France needs you to remain itself," he said.

- 'Far-left antisemitism' -

Macron decried what he called "Islamist antisemitism which was behind the pogrom of October 7," referring to the attack against Israel on October 7, 2023.

The term "pogrom" refers to violent attacks against Jews because of their religion.

He also attacked "far-left antisemitism", saying it "rivals that of the far right," and "antisemitism that uses the mask of anti-Zionism to advance quietly".

Macron said he wanted "mandatory electoral bans" for officials guilty of antisemitic and racist acts and remarks.

"All too often, the sentences handed down against the perpetrators of antisemitic offences and crimes seem derisory," he said.

Macron said France would hold social media platforms accountable and demand the removal of harmful content to combat "the poison of digital hatred".

"With all due respect to certain powers that would like to lecture us: in the France of the Enlightenment, free speech stops at antisemitism and racism," he said, in an apparent reference to the United States.

Anti-Muslim acts also increased last year by 88 percent to 326 reported incidents, the interior ministry said.

One in three Muslims surveyed for a report by the country's rights ombudswoman last year said they had been discriminated against, compared to 19 percent for other religions including Judaism and Buddhism.

E.Schneyder--NZN