Killing of Yacov Barsimantov
{{Short description|1982 political assassination}}
{{distinguish|text=Yaacov Bar-Siman-Tov, Israeli scholar of international relations (1946–2013)}}
{{Infobox civilian attack
| title = Assassination of Yaacov Bar-Simantov
| image =
| location = 17 Avenue Ferdinand Buisson, Boulogne-Billancourt, France
| target = Yaacov Bar-Simantov
| date = {{Start date|1982|03|31|df=yes}}
| time = 12:50 PM
| type = Assassination
| weapons = 7.65 mm semiautomatic pistol
| fatalities = 1 (Yaacov Bar-Simantov)
| perpetrators = Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions
| accused = Georges Ibrahim Abdallah
}}On March 31, 1982, Yaacov Bar-Simantov, who was the second secretary of Israel's embassy in France, was shot dead in the Parisian suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt by an unknown female assailant.{{Cite news|last=Ap|date=1982-04-04|title=ISRAELI DIPLOMAT SHOT AND KILLED IN PARIS|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/04/world/israeli-diplomat-shot-and-killed-in-paris.html|access-date=2021-06-27|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web|date=1992-03-19|title=Major Attacks on Israeli Targets|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-03-19-mn-5922-story.html|access-date=2021-06-27|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|title=List of Israeli Diplomats Killed Abroad With AM-Diplomat Killed|url=https://apnews.com/article/79f57c1d0cc1fd5016cce5ae647e5009|access-date=2021-06-27|website=AP NEWS|language=en}}
Barsimantov was responsible for liaison with the French National Assembly and Senate and other political organizations.
At 12:50 P.M, a young woman wearing a white beret approached the diplomat, who was accompanied by his wife and 8-year-old daughter, and shot him in the head three times with a 7.65 millimeter semiautomatic pistol in the lobby of their apartment building at 17 Avenue Ferdinand Buisson in Boulogne-Billancourt. His 17-year-old son, who heard the shots but did not witness the murder, chased the woman, who was able to flee into the Paris Metro. The diplomat was announced dead about two hours after the shooting. The Israeli Embassy stated that no particular security arrangements had been in effect for the diplomat, who had worked in Paris for a little over two years on his first foreign assignment. The shooting came three days after his office had been sprayed with machine-gun fire.
Responsibility for the murder was claimed by a group called the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions. Israel accused the PLO of being involved and considered the murder a violation of the terms of the July 1981 ceasefire arranged by the United States after fighting in Lebanon. The PLO insisted that the cease-fire covered only actions taking place in Lebanon.{{Cite web|date=2007-11-12|title=1982|url=https://archive.jewishagency.org/timeline/content/24607|access-date=2021-06-27|website=The Jewish Agency|language=en}}
Imprisonment of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah
{{main|Georges Ibrahim Abdallah}}
Georges Abdallah, a Lebanese national, was sentenced to life in prison in 1987 for the 1982 murder of Lieutenant Colonel Charles R. Ray, an assistant US military attaché and murder of Bar-Simantov, as well as involvement in the attempted assassination of former American consul in Strasbourg Robert O. Homme, on 26 March 1984. {{cite book|last1=West|first1=Nigel|title=Encyclopedia of Political Assassinations|date=15 August 2017|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-1-538-10239-8|page=219|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SZMtDwAAQBAJ&q=charles+ray+encyclopedia+political+assassinations&pg=PA218}}[http://www.france24.com/fr/20111228-georges-ibrahim-abdallah-condamne-justice-revolutionnaire-terroriste-liban-conflit-israelo-palestinien France24: Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, terroriste sans pardon] (in French)
Abdallah was to be released by French judiciary authorities in 2013. A parole board had agreed to release Abdallah, 61, on condition that he would be expelled from France immediately.{{Cite web|date=2013-01-11|title=France paroling Lebanese man involved in murders of Israeli, American|url=https://www.jta.org/2013/01/11/global/france-paroling-lebanese-man-involved-in-murders-of-israeli-american|access-date=2021-06-27|website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency|language=en-US}} The French government did not follow on, preventing the parole.
In December 2013, the city council of Bagnolet declared Abdallah an "honorary resident," describing him as a "political prisoner" and "defender of the Palestinian just cause," without mentioning his involvement in the murders.[http://www.jta.org/2013/12/13/news-opinion/world/french-city-honors-killer-of-u-s-israeli-diplomats French locality honors killer of U.S., Israeli diplomats], Jewish Telegraphic Agency, December 13, 2013. In July 2014, the administrative court in Montreuil revoked this decision.[http://www.actuj.com/2014-07/france/le-terroriste-georges-ibrahim-abdallah-citoyen-d-honneur-de-bagnolet-la-fin-d-un-scandale Le terroriste Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, citoyen d'honneur de Bagnolet: la fin d'un scandale] par Jonathan Aleksandrowicz, Actualité juive (AJ), July 7, 2014.
Abdallah is currently incarcerated in Lannemezan jail.https://www.ladepeche.fr/2021/10/23/lannemezan-500-manifestants-pour-la-liberation-de-georges-abdallah-9886697.php. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211117224718/https://www.ladepeche.fr/2021/10/23/lannemezan-500-manifestants-pour-la-liberation-de-georges-abdallah-9886697.php |date=2021-11-17 }} On 15 November 2024, a French court ordered to release him on 6 December on the condition that he would leave France. Prosecutors said that they would appeal against the order.{{Cite web|date=15 November 2024|title=French court orders release of Lebanese militant held since 1984|url=https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2024/11/french-court-orders-release-lebanese-militant-held-1984 |access-date=15 November 2024|via=Al-Monitor|agency=Agence France Presse}}
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barsimantov, Yacov}}
Category:Assassinated Israeli diplomats
Category:Israeli people murdered abroad
Category:Deaths by person in Paris
Category:1982 murders in France
Category:1980s murders in Paris
Category:Assassinations in France
Category:Terrorist incidents in France in 1982
Category:Terrorist incidents in Paris
Category:France–Israel relations