HATE MURDER SHOCKS PARIS
JEWISH ORGANISATIONS have expressed “deep concern” for the community in France following the murder of a Holocaust survivor in her Paris apartment.
A court investigation is under way after the body of 85-year-old Mireille Knoll was discovered over the weekend.
Police found she had been stabbed at least 11 times before being set alight.
The case is being treated as a murder motivated by antisemitism.
The National Bureau for Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism (BNVCA) said Ms Knoll had previously reported a neighbour of hers to the police for threatening to “burn her”.
Two suspects are understood to be in custody.
The crime was described by Jewish organisations as reminiscent of the murder of 66-year-old Sarah Halimi last April.
A spokesperson for Crif, the umbrella organisation for French Jewish groups, expressed the “deep concern of the Jewish population of France”.
“The inhumanity of this murder sends us back to that of Sarah Halimi just one year ago,” the spokesperson said, adding that the organisation had been in touch with the Office of the President of France and the Prefect of police.
“The President of Crif, Francis Kalifat, spoke for a long time with the children of the victim, and expressed the Jewish community’s and his own condolences.
“Crif expects total transparency in the current investigation so that the motives for this barbaric crime are made known as soon as possible.”