French shooting: ‘We’re not willing to tolerate antisemitism, it is against our values’

THE four Jewish victims of Monday’s attacks were buried in a ceremony at a hilltop cemetery in Israel yesterday.

The four were shot at the Ozar HaTorah Jewish school, with the gunman first wounding rabbi Jonathan Sandler, then shooting eight-year-old Miriam Monsenego, the daughter of the principal, before returning to kill Mr Sandler and his two sons, Gabriel, three, and Arye, six, at point blank range.

Rabbis and politicians addressing the thousands of mourners broke into tears recalling the idealism and love for Judaism of Mr Sandler, 30, and sympathising with this pregnant widow, Eva.

Miriam Monsenego’s older brother, Avishai, addressed his funeral oration to his sister through tears: “Miriam, I am not worried for you, but I ask you please to pray to God from where you are, to shed tears and not to stop so that God will provide mother and father with the strength to pass this most difficult of trials. Don’t stop, you are the one who is nearest to the Holy One, Blessed Be He.”

French foreign minister Alain Juppe who attended the funeral as representative of the French government said: “We will combat antisemitism in every place because every time a Jew is cursed, struck or killed, it puts all of France in the line of fire. We are not willing to tolerate antisemitism. It is against all French values.’’

Meanwhile, the Palestinian premier Salam Fayyad, condemned the killings and voiced anger at what he termed the gunman’s “invoking the Palestinians to justify such acts”. According to reports from France, Mohammed Merah had cited the deaths of Palestinian children at the hands of the Israeli army as a trigger for his attack.