You have commented 338 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Europe
Parisians forced to recognize evil within
2006-02-26
She could not stop thinking about Ilan Halimi.

And when Marie-Beatrice thought about the young Jewish man tortured to death by her neighbors during 24 days of squalid captivity in the basement a few floors below her apartment, she could not stop crying.

"I try not to blame myself, but I can't avoid it," said the weary 46-year-old, wrapped in a purple bathrobe after work Friday. "It happened next door, and I can't believe it happened. I would want to tell Ilan that if we'd heard his suffering, we would have reported it. I tell myself that Ilan surely must have thought there was noise, people lived upstairs. And he hoped someone would hear. I imagine him in the boiler room, and I want to ask him to forgive me."

Marie-Beatrice sat alone with her guilt in the aging, 11-story apartment block on Prokofiev Street in this working-class immigrant enclave on the southern edge of Paris. On a table was a summons from the police, who are canvassing neighbors to have them testify about anything they witnessed during Halimi's recent ordeal.
Posted by:Dan Darling

#7  Me thinks the lady does protest too much.
Posted by: Uneregum Thromoling6246   2006-02-26 16:10  

#6  ChIrak, vous apaisâtes trop.
Posted by: Korora   2006-02-26 15:22  

#5  France, you're almost gone. You've been feeding on the toxic poison of socialism for far too long. Re-arm yourselves. Make these asshats disappear, one by one.
Posted by: SOP35/Rat   2006-02-26 12:29  

#4  "I want to address myself to his mother and ask her forgiveness," she said. "I didn't do anything, see anything, hear anything."

A little TOO guilt-wracked for my taste. Sounds like she's trying to convince herself more than anyone else. I bet she knows she heard plenty, but did nothing.... hypocrit.
Posted by: Scooter McGruder   2006-02-26 12:26  

#3  a baseball bat execution in the streets would tend to send a message.
Posted by: Al Capone   2006-02-26 11:36  

#2  Yep Jules.
The firemen are on the roof.
Posted by: 6   2006-02-26 11:34  

#1  "And several deny being anti-Semitic. But they admit setting out to kidnap Jews, prosecutors say..."

Dizzying self-ignorance.
Posted by: Jules   2006-02-26 10:23  

00:00