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Killing in France Seen as 'Wake-Up Call'
A crowd holds a silent march in honor of kidnapping victim Ilan Halimi in the Parisian suburb of Bagneux. Their sign reads: "For Ilan."
(By Benoit Tessier -- Associated Press)
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Over the next three weeks, the kidnappers negotiated with Ilan's family members. Halimi told Haaretz that on instructions from the police, the family stopped answering telephone calls and text messages from the kidnappers in order to force them to use e-mail that might be tracked to Internet cafes from which they transmitted messages. The ransom demand eventually dropped to 5,000 euros, or about $6,000, French newspapers have reported. It is unclear what ultimately prompted the kidnappers to dump their dying captive.
The suspected gang leader, Youssouf Fofana, 26, fled France and was arrested Wednesday in Ivory Coast. Police have detained 16 other people for questioning in connection with the case.
The members of the group have a variety of ethnic and religious backgrounds, French police said. But most appear to be residents of the same low-income housing project in the suburb of Bagneux, southwest of Paris.
A rash of arson incidents and clashes with police erupted across the Paris suburbs last fall, spreading to virtually every town in France. Much of France's immigrant populations and their children live in suburban housing built by the government.
With high unemployment and crime and substandard living conditions, the youth populating the suburbs have become increasingly angry. Although last fall's violence had no overt religious overtones, many of the rebellious youth were Muslims.
French officials and Jewish leaders have been hesitant to allege that the killing was solely an act of anti-Semitism. "The question is, what kind of anti-Semitism are we talking about?" said Michel Serfaty, a rabbi at the synagogue in the Paris suburb of Ris-Orangis and an activist promoting Jewish-Muslim dialogue.
"It's a combination of gangsterism, villainy and old cliches where Jews mean money," Serfaty said. "It's young people of all origins in the suburbs expressing their resentment: 'The Jews are rich and they don't share it with us. They're smart and we don't have jobs. They dominate the world and we have no power.' "
Emmanuel Weintraub, an official of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions, said the case reflects deeper troubles in French society. "There's something striking about this gang," he said. "It's a pretty big cross section of our multiethnic society. It's the story of a group of friends who went too far. It shows a far-reaching phenomenon of social decay."
Researcher Marie Valla contributed to this report.
