Israeli President Reuven Rivlin delivered a eulogy today in Jerusalem for Yoav Hattab, Yohan Cohen, Francois-Michel Saada, and Philippe Braham, the four French Jews who were killed at a Paris kosher supermarket last Friday:
Dear families, Yoav, Yohan, Philippe, Francois-Michel, this is not how we wanted to welcome you to Israel. This is not how we wanted you to arrive in the Land of Israel, this is not how we wanted to see you come home, to the State of Israel, and to Jerusalem, its capital. We wanted you alive, we wanted for you, life. …
Dear families, people of Israel. Philippe Braham, Yoav Hattab, Yohan Cohen and Francois-Michel Saada, were murdered on the eve of the Sabbath, in a kosher supermarket in Paris, in cold blood, because they were Jewish. The murderer made sure to be in a Jewish shop, and only then did he carry out the massacre. This was pure, venomous evil, which stirs the very worst of memories. This is sheer hatred of Jews; abhorrent, dark and premeditated, which seeks to strike, wherever there is Jewish life. In Paris, in Jerusalem, in Toulouse, and in Tel Aviv. In Brussels, and in Mumbai. In the streets, and in the synagogues. In the schools, and in the local market. In the train stations, and in the museums.
In 2012, a rabbi and three children were killed at a Jewish school in Toulouse.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu added in his eulogy:
Four dear, upstanding people who loved their fellows. Four people who, like the victims from Toulouse who are buried here, were murdered only because they were Jewish. Their lives were cut short in a frenzy of hatred by a despised murderer. But we shall not waste words on the contemptible killer, nor on those who slaughtered other innocents on French soil, as it is their actions that provide testimony of their murderous zeal, the poisonous fanaticism of the radical Islamic terrorist organizations that serves as the motivation for carrying out horrific acts around the world.
I have been saying this for many years, and I will say it again here today: they are not the enemies only of the Jewish people. They are the enemies of all humanity, and the time has come for all civilized people to unite and eliminate them from our midst.
I returned from Paris yesterday. I marched with leaders who came from all over the world. I think that most of them understand, or are beginning to, that radical Islamist terrorism is a real and present danger to the peace of the world we live in.
French Energy and Environment Minister Segolene Royal represented the French government at the funeral. The Times of Israel reports:
Royal, the French government’s number three, represented Paris at the funeral. In her eulogy, Royal pledged France will not tolerate anti-Semitism and will “unfailingly” fight it. “France without Jews is not France,” she said.
“Anti-Semitism has no place in France,” said Royal. “I want to assure you of the unfailing determination of the French government to fight against all forms and acts of anti-Semitism.”
Her remarks echoed those made by French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, who said on Saturday that France without Jews would be a “failure.”
The four men were killed when Amedy Coulibaly took them hostage in the Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket in Paris last Friday. Last week’s terror in Paris began last Wednesday when two terrorists attacked the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing twelve.
[Photo: Ryan Green / YouTube ]