Crif/Hypercacher - Ceremony of remembrance in memory of the HyperCacher attack victims 5 years ago

Last night, Thursday, January 9, 2020, five years after the terrible attack on the Hyper Cacher kosher superkarmet, the Crif called for a rally in memory of the victims.

The families and relatives of the victims as well as some hostages during the attack were present at the ceremony. The Crif would like to reaffirm his unwavering support for them.

This ceremony is organized every year by the Crif for them. Many of you gathered at the scene of the tragedy at our side.

Numerous public and political figures responded to the Crif's invitation and attended the ceremony. Among them, Christophe Castaner, Minister of the Interior, Nicole Belloubet, Minister of Justice and Keeper of the Seals, Laurent Nuñez, Secretary of State to the Minister of the Interior and Emmanuelle Wargon, Secretary of State to the Minister of Ecological and Solidarity Transition.

Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris and many mayors of districts, Meyer Habib, Deputy of the French abroad of the 8th district, François Pupponi, Deputy of the Val d'Oise, Frédéric Potier of the DILCRAH, Benjamin Griveaux and Cédric Villani, candidates for the municipal elections, were also present.

Elisabeth Pelsez, Interministerial Delegate for Victim Assistance, and David Assouline, Vice-President of the Senate, also attended the commemorations. So did Aglaïa Balta, Greek Ambassador to France. The Ambassadors of Israel in France and of the United States in France were represented.

Religious and community representatives, including Haïm Korsia, Chief Rabbi of France, Ariel Goldmann, President of the United Jewish Social Fund and Joël Mergui, President of the Consistory, Michel Gugenheim, Chief Rabbi of Paris, Philippe Meyer, President of Bnaï Brith, Noémie Madar, President of the UEJF and Mr Hassen Chalghoumi, Imam of Drancy also attended the gathering.

Riss and Marika Bret, from the newspaper Charlie Hebdo, as well as representatives of the Prefecture of the Ile de France Region and the Paris Police Prefecture were also present.

The ceremony was punctuated by the lighting of eleven candles in memory of the four victims of Hyper Cacher, Yoav Hattab, Yohan Cohen, Philippe Braham and François-Michel Saada, the victims of the attack on Charlie Hebdo, law enforcement officers murdered in the line of duty, the victims of anti-Semitism in the world, Sarah Halimi, Mireille Knoll and all the victims of terrorism in France and around the world.

This year, before the lighting of the candle in Sarah Halimi’s memory, the president of Crif, Francis Kalifat, made a point of speaking out on the murder of Sarah Halimi, insisting on the need for a trial. Indeed, on 19 December last year, the Paris Court of Appeal announced that the murderer of Sarah Halimi was criminally irresponsible.

“This decision deprives Sarah Halimi's children and family of the trial that is essential to the calm and serenity to which they are entitled. This decision deprives, at this stage, France of the trial of anti-Semitism," said Francis Kalifat. “France needs this trial to make its way in its long fight against anti-Semitism, because for Sarah Halimi, the application of the rules of law, which are indispensable in a democracy, does not exhaust the debate".

“We wait with anguish and concern but also with confidence the examination of the appeal before the court of cassation because there can be no law without justice," he added.

The gathering concluded with the recitation of Kaddish, the prayer for the dead, by Rabbi Hattab, father of Yoav Hattab, one of the four victims of Hyper Hiding. Then by the song of the Marseillaise, wanting to recall the republican values that make the greatness of France, and sung in chorus by the public.

Each one was then able to light a candle in memory of the victims.

This Thursday evening, in front of the Hyper Cacher supermarket, the nation showed, once again, its unfailing support for its missing.