A European Parliament member and prominent intellectuals protested the omission of anti-Semitism from a draft indictment of a Muslim for the murder of his Jewish neighbor

Frédérique Ries, a lawmaker from Belgium, has criticized French authorities’ handling of the investigation into the April 4, 2017 incident, in which Sarah Halimi was tortured and thrown out of her third-story apartment to her death, allegedly by Kobili Traore, who lived in her building. “French authorities have treated her murder with icy silence,” Ries, who is Jewish, said in reference to the fact that Traore, who had no history of mental illness, was placed at a psychiatric institution and has not been charged with a hate crime despite evidence suggesting that he killed Halimi because she was Jewish. In a voice recording of the incident, Traore is heard shouting “Allahu akbar,” calling Sarah “Satan” and calmly praying after her killing, according to reports. Recently, 17 French intellectuals published a scathing criticism of the handling of the incident by authorities and the media. “Everything about this crime suggests there is an ongoing denial of reality” by authorities, the intellectuals wrote, citing also testimonies of neighbors who said that Traore had called Halimi a “dirty Jew” to her face and called her relatives “dirty Jews” as well in the past. Many Jews believe that authorities covered up Halimi’s alleged murder to prevent it from becoming fodder for the racially and religiously divisive French presidential campaign.