Motives
The kidnapping seems to be motivated by a combination of anti-semitism and a desire for money.
Police have attributed to the banlieues' gang subculture a "poisonous mentality that designates Jews as enemies along with other 'outsiders,'" such as Americans, mainstream French, and Europeans in general. "If they could have gotten their hands on a (non-Jewish) French cop in the same way, they probably would have done the same thing," a retired police chief opined.
Read more about this topic: Ilan Halimi
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