Holocaust survivor killed in ‘anti-jewish’ invasion

FRANCE: Prosecutors say they believe that the killers of an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor who was stabbed and burnt in her Parisian flat last week were motivated by anti-semitism.

Their announcement yesterday came amid mounting anger in France’s Jewish community over the reluctance of officials to treat the murder as an anti-semitic crime.

Mireille Knoll, 85, was stabbed 11 times on Friday in the council flat where she lived alone in eastern Paris. The flat was then set ablaze in an apparent attempt to cover up the murder.

Police have arrested two suspects, a 29-year-old neighbour with a criminal record for rape and other sexual violence and a 21-year-old man with previous convictions for robbery.

The Paris prosecution service said it was treating her death as a premeditated murder and an antisemitic act. Detectives initially said they thought she was the victim of a violent robbery with no link to her religion.

Jewish community leaders accused officials of covering up the anti-semitic motives in an effort to avoid inflaming religious tensions. They pointed out that Knoll had told police that she had recently received death threats, notably threats to burn her.

They compared her death to that of Sarah Halimi, 65, who was thrown from the window of her Parisian flat last year. Police arrested a Muslim neighbour in connection with her murder, but initially refused to consider the killing as anti-semitic. – The Times