Rivlin hails France’s Macron for backing change to law after Jewish woman’s killer avoids trial

President Reuven Rivlin pens a letter to his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron concerning a ruling by France’s top court that a man who killed a Jewish woman in Paris was not criminally liable as he was high on marijuana at the time.

In the letter, Rivlin calls Sarah Halimi’s murder “antisemitic, brutal and terrible,” while hailing Macron’s support for changing French law to prevent another such case.

“Your quick and clear response sends a clear message to the family of the victim and to France as a whole that law as it currently stands is deficient, and that deficiency has allowed a despicable murderer to evade justice and punishment,” Rivlin tells Macron.

He adds: “The facts of the case are accepted. Dr. Sarah Halimi was a victim of a despicable murder by a cruel murderer because she was Jewish, and everything must be done to send a clear message that there is, and will not, be any tolerance of sick and despicable antisemitism and attacks on Jews because of their ethnicity and religion.”