Family of Jewish woman murdered in Paris moving to Israel - Yori Yalon

by Yori Yalon

Hat tip: Dr. Jean-Charles Bensoussan

William Attal, 62, says since his sister, Dr. Sarah Halimi, was brutally murdered by a Muslim intruder, his children have pressured him to move the family to Israel

William Attal outside a synagogue in a Paris suburb |Photo credit: Yori Yalon

The late Dr. Sarah Halimi

William Attal, 62, whose sister Sarah Halimi was brutally murdered last April by a Muslim attacker who broke into her Paris apartment and threw her out of a third-floor window, still finds it hard to comprehend the horrific death of his sister. 

In a special interview to Israel Hayom in Paris, Attal stressed that his sister's murder had spurred him to move to Israel with his family. They intend to make the move in August. 

"My children have been having nightmares since my sister was murdered, and they are pressuring me to leave this place and make aliyah to Israel as soon as possible," Attal said. 

"My sister dreamed of coming to Israel and wanted to live near her son there, but she didn't make aliyah because of [the rest of] her family here in France, and she lived alone and helped raise her grandchildren. Now, the children are making aliyah without her, and will only be able to visit her grave on Har Hamenuhot in Jerusalem," he said. 

Attal, who takes care to hide his kippah underneath a baseball cap, describes French Jews living in "existential fear." 

"The situation here is getting worse. There is an escalation in anti-Semitism, and if in the past Jewish schools were the targets of shootings, now they come into my sister's home and murder here. It's escalating. She was murdered just because she was Jewish. ... You can't deny that there is Islamist anti-Semitism in France." 

Aside from the day-to-day confrontation with the family tragedy, Attal and his relatives are fighting to prove that the murder was motivated by anti-Semitism. 

An article in the Israel Hayom weekend supplement last month revealed infuriating information about Halimi's death. Early on the morning of April 4, Kobili Traore, a 27-year-old African Muslim, broke into her apartment. He attacked her as she was sleeping, beat in her face and skull with his bare hands, and threw her off her third-floor balcony while shouting "Allahu akhbar" [God is great].

Halimi's neighbors, who heard her screams and the Islamist cries of her killer, called the police. But the police took time to intervene, and even when they arrested Traore, who had a criminal record, a police psychiatrist determined that the killer was mentally unstable and had him sent to a psychiatric detention facility, where he remains. 

Attal is unwilling to accept that his sister's killer is not paying for his crime. 

"It's just insane that the murderer isn't taking responsibility for this murder and is claiming he was high when he committed it. This was premeditated murder. He picked her out as a victim from anti-Semitic motives. This situation is horribly unjust. My sister was tortured and killed, and every day that passes with her killer in the hospital and not in prison adds to our sorrow and suffering.

"The murderer knew my sister was Jewish and was from a haredi [ultra-Orthodox] family. He came to her apartment ready to kill, with a change of clothes, beat her brutally and broke 30 bones all over her body, while reading Quran verses and shouting 'Allahu akhbar.' It's terrifying," Attal said. 

Attal said his sister was a doctor who was in charge of a day care center for Jewish children.

"She devoted her life to the community. Her death was a warning that we need to be careful and take anti-Semitism in France, which is getting worse, seriously," the bereaved brother said. 

Attal and his family are due to arrive in Israel in August, and are making aliyah with the assistance of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, which for the last three years has helped Jews in financial or security distress move to Israel. 

IFCJ President Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein said, "In Israel there is a stereotype of French Jews as wealthy, not needing any help to make aliyah, but in truth there are Jews in France who don't earn much or are lower middle class, and they are the ones who regularly suffer harassment and even violent attacks by extremist Muslims in the suburbs of Paris or in the periphery. They live as a frightened, persecuted minority."

Yori Yalon

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=43927&hp=1

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