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Ceremonies in Paris, Jerusalem Honor France Terror Dead

Simultaneous ceremonies were held in Israel and Paris to honor some of the victims of last week's terror attack in and around the French capital.
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Simultaneous ceremonies were held in Israel and Paris on Tuesday to honor some victims of last week's terror attacks in and around the French capital.

The funerals of four Jewish victims killed in a standoff at a kosher supermarket were held in in the Givat Shaul neighborhood of Jerusalem.

The ceremony was attended by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who told families that their "relatives were killed only because they were Jewish." He added: "I think the world leaders understand these fundamentalist are dangerous to the whole world. We say that they will never have victory over the Jewish people."

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin called the attacks "pure evil." Speaking of the victims, he said: "The whole country is mourning your loss."

France's chief rabbi, Haïm Korsia, also traveled to Jerusalem for the funerals.

At the same time, French President François Hollande led a ceremony in the courtyard of the Prefecture de Police, Paris' police headquarters. It honored the three police officers among the 17 killed in last week's attacks.

Hollande went first to the family of Ahmed Merabet, the French Muslim police office killed in the attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo. The officers' names were read aloud and Hollande placed the Legion d'Honeur (National Order of Merit) on each of their coffins.

"They died so that we could live free," Hollande said, vowing that France will be "merciless in the face of anti-Semitic, anti-Muslims acts, and unrelenting against those who defend and carry out terrorism, notably the jihadists who go to Iraq and Syria."

IN-DEPTH

- Alexander Smith and Paul Goldman

The Associated Press contributed to this report.