After the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, Israeli figures focused their efforts on encouraging French Jews to migrate to occupied Palestine. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told them that Israel is their home, while he tasked a ministerial committee with examining ways to encourage greater migration. His Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman met with his ministry team and security officials to discuss means of strengthening Israel’s ties with Jewish organisations, as well as the leaders of the Jewish community, in France. Netanyahu, Lieberman and Minister of the Economy Naftali Bennett all attended the Paris protest march on 11 January. Their presence and statements were basically early electioneering in the run-up to the General Election in March.
In response to the Israeli messages, the French prime minister insisted that “if 100,000 Jews leave, France will no longer be France.” He praised the “the largest and oldest Jewish community in Europe who play a role in the life of France that is central.” The Director General of the European Jewish Association (EJA), Rabbi Menachem Margolin, rejected Netanyahu’s call for French Jews to go to Israel.
Representing more than 700 rabbis, Margolin said in a press statement: “I regret that after every anti-Semitic attack in Europe, the Israeli government dispenses the same statements about the importance of Aliyah [migration to Israel] rather than take all measures at its disposal in order to increase the safety of Jewish life in Europe.” He added that mass immigration to Israel is not the solution for anti-Semitic terror. “The Israeli government must increase security for the European Jewish community, rather than just repeat Pavlovian calls for Aliyah after every terror attack.” Such Israeli campaigns, continued Rabbi Margolin, “weaken and damage the strength of our Jewish communities that are entitled to live safely in Europe.” The Israeli government, he insisted, must recognise the strategic importance of the presence of this community in its various locations.
France has 700,000 Jews within its population, 60 per cent of whom are of North African origin. They influence all aspects of social, economic and political life. In addition, their children are ranked the highest in the state and in French universities, in applied sciences and the humanities.
In the economic field, a large number of Jews are employed in the services and business sector, as well as in fashion design, advertising and the French media, influencing various outlets, especially periodicals, major newspapers and satellite television channels. Jewish capital plays a role and there are 100 Jewish organisations across the country.
A number of these organisations share the goals of right-wing Israeli groups and there is an influential pro-Israel lobby. Most French Jews support Israel materially and morally, with many young Jews serving in the Israel Defence Forces for “national service” before returning to France.
The number of Jews in France during the 1789 Revolution was less than 40,000 out of a total population of 26 million. By 1810, when Jews were given equal civil and legal rights, their number had risen to 46,538.
According to figures provided by the Jewish community, 115,000 Jews went to France between 1880 and 1939, with 30,000 arriving between 1881 and 1914, and 85,000 during the First and Second World Wars. Natural population growth and the immigration of some Moroccan Jews after World War Two have seen the number of French Jews reach 700,000 today.
Few, if any, French Jews migrated to Palestine before 1948. The figure is put at 3,943 post-Second World War. In 1949, however, 1,653 French Jews made the move, and in the first 10 years of Israel’s history 7,768 did so. From 1948 until the late nineties, it is estimated that nearly 90,000 Jews moved from France to occupied Palestine. Most are believed to have moved in order to join relatives who had moved to the state of Israel from other parts of Europe. Overall, the percentage of French Jews who have made “Aliyah” is actually very low. It is also fair to say that, given an option, those Jews who moved to Israel from Egypt, Algeria and other countries in north-west Africa would have preferred to migrate to France.
The decline in the number of French Jews moving to Israel prompted the government in Tel Aviv to develop a 3 year plan in 2013 aiming to double the migration figure from France and attract 6,000 Jews in 2014; 12,000 in 2015; and 24,000 in 2016. According to figures from the Israeli Ministry of Immigration, contrary to expectations, the number of Jews who made Aliyah in 2014 was the highest for the past decade.
There are doubts regarding the Israeli government’s ability to attract French Jews at a level similar to the migration of Jews from the Soviet Union in the past. It is, though, providing substantial financial incentives as well as suggesting that Jews in France will face more attacks in the future. In short, the Israelis are trying to make French Jews feel that their country is no longer safe.
Although a large number of French Jews support Israel and its policies, there are no obvious factors that discourage them from living in France due to its democracy and its economic and social welfare. There are also other European countries that are more attractive to French Jews than Israel, due to the shifts and developments taking place in the Arab region.
Translated from Al Jazeera net, 28 January, 2015
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.