Lest We Forget.... The Murder of Ilan Halimil

Janjan asks, "Promise me God is keeping score." With Issue has pointed us to a First Things article by Guy Millière on the Death of Ilan Halimil in France simply because he was Jewish. Since Ilan was found, dying, more information has been learned by French reporters. And if one simply looks, there is ample more evidence. GM has other examples in his article, too, besides these two.

So, how do we answer Janjan?





This young Parisian Jew was kidnapped by a gang of thugs on January 21st and held captive for three weeks. On February 13th, early in the morning, he was found on the edge of a railway station, naked and handcuffed, his body covered with burn marks from acid and cigarettes. He had been savagely tortured and stabbed in the neck. He was not dead yet when discovered, but he died a few minutes later.

Since he was found, more information has been learned, and this information includes the fact that the French police knew of the anti-Semitic nature of this kidnapping. But the details of what happened that journalists have been uncovering have ramifications that should horrify anyone.



Two years before Ilan was tortured and murdered, another young Jewish man, Sebastien Sellam, was murdered in a horrendous way by his childhood friend. That friend then went to his home and said "Maman, I murdered my Jew". He never stood trial for the murder, apparently. According to Guy Millière's article and others, "he was sent to jail, then to an insane asylum. He has been declared cured and will be out in April."

Officially it was not deemed anti-Semitism either, and was also ignored or denied by many. Even a 30 yr veteran of the police dep't, himself Jewish, gave the murderer an 'out'...

Representatives of the Jewish community did not attend Sebastien's large funeral. They believed that the murder had been a settling of accounts between two childhood friends, one of whom happened to be a Jew and the other a Muslim. "It was clear to us that there was no nationalistic or anti-Semitic background here," explained one community leader.

Sammy Gozlan, a retired Jewish police inspector, visited the neighborhood to get a closer perspective on the incident. Despite his 30 years' on the Paris police force and his reputation as one of the city's most experienced detectives, he had difficulty arriving at an unambiguous conclusion. "I say that if Sebastien had not been Jewish, he would not have been murdered," he revealed over a meal at the Israel-France kosher restaurant on Boulevard Foch in Paris. "But on the other hand, it was also clear to me that these were two friends, one successful and the other a drug user. The drug user murdered his successful friend out of insane jealousy. Neighbors told me that Adel had become a religious Muslim. That certainly added to his hatred for Sebastien. In this sense, he killed two birds with one stone. He murdered the friend of whom he was jealous, and he got rid of a Jew who symbolized the great failure of his life. After investigating the case, I could not conclude whether the motive was anti-Semitism or insane jealousy. It could have been both."

So, how do we answer Janjan? Because you see, I am convinced that it isn't just the Jewish people this time. When you listen to Iran, and to other Islamofascists talk, you hear (and have heard for a long time)... that we, here in the US are also among the hated Infidels. And in many nations around the world, you find Christians being treated as Infidels.... So how do we answer Janjan and others when the obvious is again being ignored and explained away... so that it will just... go... away...

First they came for the Communists and I didn't speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me, but by that time, no one was left to speak up.

--Pastor Martin Niemöller, Nazi Germany