An olive tree planted in 2011 to honour Ilan Halimi, the 23-year-old French Jew kidnapped and murdered in 2006 by the so-called “Gang of Barbarians,” was cut down with a chainsaw in Épinay-sur-Seine during the night of 13–14 August, according to local authorities. Mayor Hervé Chevreau has filed a criminal complaint for the “antisemitic act,” and Prefect Julien Charles confirmed an investigation is under way to identify and prosecute those responsible. Municipal officials said a new commemorative tree will be replanted as soon as possible. President Emmanuel Macron condemned the felling as “an act of hatred,” pledging that “all means” will be deployed to punish the perpetrators. Prime Minister François Bayrou called the memorial a “living bulwark against oblivion” and vowed that “no crime can uproot memory.” Politicians across the spectrum echoed the denunciations amid a wider rise in antisemitic incidents in France. The memorial had stood near a stelae marking Halimi’s killing, a case that shocked the nation and remains a reference point in France’s struggle against antisemitism; two earlier Halimi tribute trees were vandalised in 2019. Interior-ministry figures show reported antisemitic acts surged after the Israel–Hamas conflict of 2023, heightening concern over symbols targeted for their Jewish associations.