Some 300 people gathered south of Paris on Wednesday to commemorate the 2006 murder of Ilan Halimi and plant new saplings, days after his memorial was vandalised.
The trees were cut in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, near the spot where Halimi, a 23-year-old phone salesman, was abandoned by those who had kidnapped and tortured him for weeks.
Gang leader Youssouf Fofana set Halimi on fire before leaving him next to railway tracks.
“Ilan was found naked, his hands tied, with sellotape around his forehead and neck. He was completely burned, was wounded all over his body with a hole in his neck,” said the victim’s mother Ruth Halimi in a message read out by author Emilie Freche.
“The only thing that keeps me from going crazy is the thought that Ilan could hear in his last moments the soft voice of a policewoman who stayed with him until emergency vehicles arrived at this site.”
City employees preparing the site for the annual commemoration discovered the trees had been cut, prompting widespread condemnation.
France’s Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said they would plant even bigger and more beautiful trees; on Wednesday, officials teamed up with local junior high students to plant them and light candles.
“This year, on top of the sadness and grief, we feel disgust and anger over what has happened,” said Saint-Geneviève-des-Bois’ Mayor Frédéric Petitta.
The destruction of Halimi’s memorial came after a weekend of antisemitic vandalism in France: graffiti was daubed on a bagel restaurant chain, crude slogans accused Jews of controlling French President Emmanuel Macron, and swastikas were drawn over portraits of the late Holocaust survivor and former minister Simone Veil.
Then on Monday, Interior Ministry figures showed antisemitism in France had grown by 74 per cent in 2018.
Mr Macron's spokesman Benjamin Griveaux said extremists infiltrating the weekly protests — in which participants wear yellow high visibility vests — were in part to blame, but offered no direct evidence of a link with the protests, which only began in the final weeks of 2018.
“Antisemitism is a repudiation of the Republic, in the same way that attacking elected officials or institutions is a repudiation of the Republic,” he said.
“I will never forget the day they called me to say they have found Ilan Halimi. The tragedy that had shaken us for three weeks ended in our city,” the town’s former mayor, now senator Olivier Léonhardt told the JC. “But ceremonies aren’t enough. We have to act.”
The government’s plan of action against antisemitism focuses largely on education. Local teachers have been running special courses explaining antisemitism through history, literature and art — a programme that won an award for fighting stereotypes that is named after Ilan Halimi.
“We understand that we are the new generation. Everything depends on us so we have to act properly,” 13-year-old Yasmine said. “One thing we learned is that stereotypes and prejudice have a terrible impact. When we make fun of someone we may want to joke around and have fun, but the consequences can be terrible.”
“Children are crucial in the fight on antisemitism and intolerance,” said former mayor Olivier Léonhardt. “First, children are much more open-minded than other segments of the population. And second, they have an influence. People around them listen to what they have to say.”
Francis Kalifa, who leads the French Jewish umbrella organisation Crif, said the government strategy to fight antisemitic alongside other forms of intolerance like racism and homophobia is not efficient. Hatred of Jews should be targeted separately, he said.
But Rabbi Michel Serfaty, who set up the Jewish-Islamic Friendship association and attended the ceremony with Muslim members of his group, said the government measures should be intensified.
“It’s a constant effort. Whenever I hear anyone making an antisemitic comment or implying something, I call them out,” said 62-year-old Marie-Hélène, a member of the local Jewish community.
But her friend Chantal replied: “I’m not as optimistic as you are. I think the situation will only worsen and France’s Jews are doomed.”
