A crowd gathers at the Jardin Ilan Halimi in Paris on Feb. 14, 2021, to commemorate the 15th anniversary of Halimi’s kidnapping and murder. Photo: Reuters/Xose Bouzas/Hans Lucas

More than a month and a half after the olive tree planted to honor Ilan Halimi was vandalized and cut down, French authorities are continuing efforts to replant olive trees in memory of the young Jewish man who was brutally tortured to death in 2006.

On Tuesday, local officials unveiled a commemorative plaque in the garden of Paris City Hall and planted a new tree to honor Halimi’s memory.

“This tree is a symbol of life,” said Ariel Weil, mayor of Paris Centre. “Next year will mark the tragic 20th anniversary of Ilan Halimi’s murder.”

“At the time, he was barely a young man. At 23, full of passion and the energy of youth, he pursued the promise of love — but met a tragic death instead,” Weil continued. “With this tree, however, it is Ilan Halimi’s life that is being planted in our garden.”

Last week, the southern French town of Pollestres also planted a new olive tree in honor of Halimi, calling it “a symbol of peace and remembrance” and a stand against hatred and antisemitism.

“We aim to promote values against barbarism, racism, and antisemitism, and I must say that right now, there is a climate of hatred between communities,” said Jean-Charles Moriconi, the town’s mayor.

“I believe that to unite everyone, we need gestures like this — proof that when something is torn down or destroyed, it will be replanted,” he continued.

Last month, French authorities planted the first olive tree in Saint-Ouen, a northern suburb of Paris in the Île-de-France region, two weeks after Halimi’s previous memorial was vandalized.

Hervé Chevreau, mayor of the northern Paris suburb Épinay, announced that several olive trees will be replanted in Halimi’s memory, praising “a remarkable outpouring of solidarity” reflected in the donations.

Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF) — the main representative body of French Jews — praised these gestures as a powerful symbol of “the deep roots of the Jewish people in the [French Republic], and in the history of France,” saying that “no one will be able to uproot them.”

Halimi was abducted, held captive, and tortured in January 2006 by a gang of about 20 people in a low-income housing estate in the Paris suburb of Bagneux.

Three weeks later, he was found in Essonne, south of Paris, naked, gagged, and handcuffed, with clear signs of torture and burns. The 23-year-old died on the way to the hospital.

In 2011, an olive tree was planted in Halimi’s memory. In August, the memorial was found felled — probably with a chainsaw — in Epinay-sur-Seine.

Halimi’s memory has faced attacks before, with two other trees planted in his honor vandalized in 2019 in Essonne.

Shortly after this latest attack, two 19-year-old Tunisian twin brothers, undocumented and with prior convictions for theft and violence, were arrested for allegedly vandalizing and cutting down Halimi’s memorial.

Both brothers appeared in criminal court and were remanded in custody pending their trial, scheduled for Oct. 22.

They will face trial on charges of “aggravated destruction of property” and “desecration of a monument dedicated to the memory of the dead on the basis of race, ethnicity, nationality, or religion,” offenses that, according to prosecutors, carry a sentence of up to two years in prison.

FBI Director Kash Patel attends the signing of an executive order by US President Donald Trump on a deal that would divest TikTok’s US operations from ByteDance from its Chinese owner ByteDance, at the White House in Washington, DC, US, Sept. 25, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

The FBI said on Wednesday it had cut ties with the Anti-Defamation League, a prominent Jewish group that tracks antisemitism, after Republicans criticized the group for including slain activist Charlie Kirk’s organization in a glossary on extremism.

In a social media post, FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau “won’t partner with political fronts masquerading as watchdogs.”

The ADL did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It was not immediately clear what sort of ties the FBI had with the ADL.

Patel’s announcement followed criticism of the ADL by right-wing activists and leaders, including billionaire Elon Musk, over its inclusion of Kirk’s Turning Point USA in a “Glossary of Extremism and Hate” on its website. Kirk was assassinated on a college campus in September.

After that criticism, the ADL removed the entire glossary from its website. The glossary had said that Turning Point USA had a history of “bigoted statements,” a charge the group rejects.

Former US Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) raises her fist as US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) addresses a pro-Hamas demonstration in Washington, DC. Photo: Reuters/Allison Bailey

Former US Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), a one-time member of the so-called “Squad” of far-left, anti-Israel lawmakers in Congress, is laying the groundwork for a political comeback after losing her seat in a bruising Democratic primary last year.

Bush has begun hiring staff and is expected to announce her campaign as soon as next week, according to people familiar with her plans who spoke to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The expected move would come less than a year after Rep. Wesley Bell (D-MO), the former St. Louis County prosecutor, ousted Bush in a hotly contested primary that underscored deep divisions between progressive activists and the Democratic establishment.

In her farewell remarks on Capitol Hill, Bush signaled she was not done with politics, hinting she might seek a return in 2026. Since leaving office, Bush has launched a political action committee aimed at boosting progressive candidates, a step that positioned her both to retain a base and to keep her options open for another run.

Bell’s campaign wasted little time sharpening its contrast with Bush. A spokesperson accused the former congresswoman of failing to deliver for constituents during her tenure, framing Bell as the pragmatic choice who can focus on delivering tangible results for the district.

Bush’s potential re-entry into the race sets up another high-stakes test for the progressive movement in the Midwest. Her initial victory in 2020 over longtime Rep. Lacy Clay was hailed as a defining moment for the political left. But her defeat at the hands of Bell — who pitched himself as a consensus-builder and a steady alternative — raised questions about the durability of the Squad’s influence outside coastal districts.

Bush lost her reelection campaign to Bell in August 2024 while making her opposition to Israel a key talking point of the race. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the foremost pro-Israel lobbying group in the US, flooded the race with a staggering $8.4 million to secure her ouster. During her concession speech, Bush blamed AIPAC for her loss and vowed to dismantle the organization’s “kingdom.”

The looming rematch is likely to draw national attention and money. Progressive groups are eager to reclaim a seat they consider a movement stronghold, while establishment Democrats see Bell’s win as evidence that voters in the district want a different kind of representation.

During her tenure in office, Bush established herself as one of the most outspoken critics against Israel, and her conduct in the immediate aftermath of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel drew widespread outrage. Only nine days after the atrocities, Bush called for an “immediate ceasefire” between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group, before the former even launched a ground offensive in Gaza. As the war continued, her rhetoric toward Israel sharpened, with the congresswoman accusing the Jewish state of committing “genocide” in Gaza and “apartheid” in the West Bank. Bush has also accused Israel of inflicting a “famine” in Gaza.