The Prime Minister presented Monday to Matignon the Ilan Halimi prize to students from three establishments, the opportunity to “fight against oblivion but also to show acts of hope” in the face of anti-Semitism.
The Prime Minister, Jean Castex, presented Monday to Matignon the Ilan Halimi prize to students from three establishments, the opportunity to “fight against oblivion but also to show acts of hope” in the face of anti-Semitism. Initiatives for tolerance by students and teachers at the Toulouse-Lautrec college in Toulouse (Haute-Garonne), the Second Chance School in La Courneuve (Seine-Saint-Denis) and the Sévigné vocational high school in Gap (Hautes -Alpes) were rewarded by Mr. Castex and Ministers Elisabeth Moreno (Diversity and Equal Opportunities), and Jean-Michel Blanquer (National Education).
The head of government welcomed the students’ projects in his speech. “When I see you, I am more determined than ever and full of hope,” he said.
Winners of the Grand Prize, the students of the professional high school of Gap were rewarded for the publication of a book devoted to the history of their city and in particular of the Righteous who hid Jews there to protect them from deportation during the Second World War. world.
This price is “a firm way of saying: the Republic will never admit this”
The Prime Minister welcomed the creation of the Ilan Halimi Prize, which became a national distinction in 2018, “a prize to touch our consciences, to fight against oblivion but also to show acts of hope”.
For Jean Castex, this price is “a firm way of saying: the Republic will never admit this”. He recalled the “ordeal” suffered by Ilan Halimi, a 23-year-old Jewish man who had been kidnapped, tortured and killed in 2006 “for what he was”. He also said that “we will never abdicate” in the face of “some who want to rewrite history”, recalling the responsibility of the French Vichy government in the deportation of Jews.
Jean Castex recalled the government’s commitment to fight against hatred and anti-Semitism, particularly online, and mentioned the hoped-for adoption within the framework of the French presidency of the European Union of “texts to strengthen the fight against hate online”.
See as well :Ilan Halimi: Israel, his last trip, his last home
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