It has been six years since Jonathan Sandler, his two young sons Arieh and Gabriel, and Myriam Monsonego were brutally murdered at the entrance of the Ozar Hatorah School in Toulouse by the terrorist Mohamed Merah.
“It is still the same pain, it has not subsided, it has not died out,” said Arié Bensemhoun, president of the Jewish community of Toulouse at the time of the attacks.
Six years on, a commemoration ceremony was held compound of the school today renamed Or Torah and in the presence of leaders of the Jewish community and local officials. A second tribute took place in memory of the civilian and military victims of terrorism and antisemitic hatred in the city’s de Gaulle Square.
Several political figures commemorated the tragedy: “Six years ago, a schoolgirl with a satchel, a father, a little girl pulled by the hair and a little boy with a pacifier in his mouth were horribly killed in Toulouse by a terrorist, because they were Jewish. Let us never close our eyes to this”, said Secretary of State for Equality between Women and Men Marlene Schiappa.
“[They were] murdered because they were Jews, let us never forget and fight antisemitism every day”, said former French Prime Minister Manuel Valls.
