A national tribute was paid on Tuesday to the victims of the attack on rue des Rosiers, in the Jewish quarter of Paris 40 years ago, in the presence for the first time of a member of the government, the Minister of Justice Eric Dupond-Moretti.
A national tribute was paid Tuesday to the victims of the attack on rue des Rosiers, in the Jewish quarter of Paris 40 years ago, in the presence for the first time of a member of the government. A total of six people were killed and 22 injured on August 9, 1982 in a grenade explosion in the Jo Goldenberg restaurant and then in a shootout in the historic Jewish quarter of the Marais. The attack has since been attributed to Abu Nidal’s Fatah-Revolutionary Council (Fatah-RC), a Palestinian dissident group from the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
In the archives of Match – Forty years ago, the attack on rue des Rosiers
“The nightmare began on this disastrous day and never leaves me”, testified during the ceremony Guy Ariel Benarousse, victim of the attack. “A national tribute is good and you see me delighted. But it is time for my country France, and its government, to take its responsibilities, so that all those who participated in this heinous attack can appear before a judge,” he said.
Very moved, the sister of André Hezkia Niego, victim of the attack, recounted the “deep pain” of her daily life since the loss of her big brother. “The same questions remain: why this anti-Semitic act? Who are the terrorists? So many questions without real answers”, regretted Jacqueline Niego.
A commemorative plaque on rue des Rosiers
Present during the tribute, the Minister of Justice Eric Dupond-Moretti acknowledged that “the thirst for justice felt by the victims has not been quenched”. “I know that our justice, in connection with our diplomats, is extremely mobilized so that all the light is shed on this cowardly attack”, specified Mr. Dupond-Moretti. “Forty years later, a sad observation is necessary: anti-Semitism, this filthy beast, is not dead; it crawls, more or less masked”, he affirmed
The minister, as well as elected officials, ambassadors and representatives of Jewish institutions, then gathered in front of the commemorative plaque on rue des Rosiers, laying wreaths of flowers there, before observing a minute of silence.