French Jews pay condolences to victims of supermarket attack
Respects paid by local leaders over Friday's incident, which echoed kosher store tragedy in 2015
Leaders of French Jewry paid their condolences to the victims of a suspected Islamist who took hostages at a supermarket near Toulouse, killing at least three and injuring 10 people.
A statement Friday by CRIF, the umbrella group of French Jewish communities, said the incident in the town of Trebes “reawakens in us the fear and pain that we felt on Jan. 9, 2015,” when an Islamist holed up with automatic weapons inside the HyperCacher supermarket in Paris killed four Jews before police broke in and shot him to death.
In Trebes, the suspected hostage taker, a man in his 20s that the media reported was of Moroccan descent, also was killed Friday in a break-in at the Super U store where he was holed up with a firearm, Le Monde reported. He had shouted that he is affiliated with the Islamic State, or ISIS, terrorist group, the police commissioner of Carcassonne near Trebes told media, according to Le Monde.
The suspect demanded the release of Salah Abdeslam, who is standing trial in Belgium for his alleged role in terrorist attacks in Paris in 2015, Le Monde reported.
Tzipi Hotovely, Israel’s deputy foreign minister, said in a statement that Israel conveyed “thoughts and prayers with the hostages and their families.” Israel and France, she said, “share values of freedom and liberty and are cooperating in the global fight against terror.”
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
