Wiesenthal Center Commends Paris Court For Acknowledging Holocaust Survivor’s Savage Murder As “Anti-Semitic.”

March 26, 2018

“How many more defenseless French Jewish victims will it take for the police to enact the necessary measures?” Center official

Dr. Shimon Samuels, the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Director for International Relations, commended the Paris Court for, "Acknowledging within 24 hours that the brutal murder of 85-year-old Holocaust survivor Mireille Knoll, was motivated by anti-Semitism.”

Dr. Samuels noted that one of the detained suspects – identified as Youcine – was apparently the victim’s neighbor. Samuels said, according to Knoll’s son, the suspect had allegedly threatened her on several occasions over a long period.

“Rounded up at the 1941 Vel d’Hiv arrest of Jews, Mrs. Knoll had survived the Shoah to be stabbed and burned to death,” stated Samuels, continuing, “The police who, reportedly, received notices of the danger to Mrs. Knoll and the threats from her neighbor, must be investigated and be penalized for their unbelievable negligence.”

Dr. Samuels added, “The gravity of this case is even more shocking in the aftermath of a similar scenario in the April 2017 murder of 66-year-old Sarah Halimi. For months, her brutal murder by her neighbor who threw her from a balcony to her death, to the cries of ‘Allahu Akhbar’, was denied an anti-Semitic character...In the case of Mireille Knoll, at least the Court has granted Mrs. Halimi a posthumous victory.”

“How many more defenseless French Jewish victims will it take for the police to enact the necessary measures?” concluded Samuels.


For further information, contact Shimon Samuels on +33 609 770 158, join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent direct to your Twitter feed.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).