French minister condemns vandalizing of Jewish grave
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PARIS - France's interior minister has condemned the desecration of a prominent Jewish grave plaque near Paris by unknown vandals as "cowardly and odious."
Gerard Collomb said the plaque in homage to Ilan Halimi, a French Jew murdered in 2006, was pulled off, thrown on the ground and covered with anti-Semitic writing.
Collomb noted that the plaque had previously been vandalized in 2015.
France's leading Jewish group the CRIF said that this latest event highlights the country's persistent anti-Semitism.
Halimi was held and tortured for three weeks before being murdered in a suburb of Paris by a French criminal gang.
