“Reported police negligence must be investigated and penalized.”

Paris, 26 March 2018

Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, commended the Paris Court “for acknowledging within 24 hours that the brutal murder of 85 year old Holocaust survivor Mireille Knoll was motivated by antisemitism.”

The Centre noted that “her murderer – two suspects have now been detained –, one name made public as Youcine, was apparently the victim’s neighbour. He had allegedly threatened her on several occasions over a long period... This has been confirmed by her son.”

“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 neighbour, must be investigated and be penalized for their unbelievable negligence.”

“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 neighbour who threw her from a balcony to her death, to the cries of ‘Allahu Akhbar’, was denied an antisemitic character... In the case of Mireille Knoll, at least the Court has granted Mrs. Halimi a posthumous victory.”

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