New immigration wave? Almost 70% of Jews do not feel safe in France

The recent political gains of the far left, and a 400% rise in antisemitism since October 7 are driving a leap in interest in moving to Israel.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

With a whopping 68% of Jews in France reporting that they do not feel safe in their home country, increasing numbers are looking at Israel as a possible place to live, the Committee for Immigration, Absorption, and Diaspora Affairs was told Monday.

The recent political gains of the far left, and a four-fold rise in antisemitism since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7 are the two major reasons for Jewish fear.

“The rise of the radical left in France is a very bad sign for Jews there,” Committee Chair MK Oded Forer said, pointing to Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of the La France Insoumise (France Unbowed) party which received the most seats of the leftist alliance that beat the centrists and far right in last week’s legislative elections.

Mélenchon has long been a harsh Israel critic. Forer pointed out that he did not condemn the Hamas massacre of 1,200 people during its invasion of Israel on October 7, and “in his election rally, people were waving more Palestinian flags than French flags.”

“The amount of hatred and incitement of the leftist parties towards Jews legitimizes violent actions against the Jews.” the Israel Beiteinu MK added.

South Paris community leader Albert Myara testified that “The number of antisemitic incidents across France has increased by 400%” and “the [attitude] towards Jews is, at times, intolerable.”

The threat does not only come from the Left, as far as the Jews are concerned.

Rabbi Moshe Sebbag, chief rabbi of the Grand Synagogue of Paris, had told The Jerusalem Post after the surprising success of the far right in the first round of elections on June 30 that “It is clear today that there is no future for Jews in France. I tell everyone who is young to go to Israel or a more secure country.”

He told the committee Monday that “People in the Jewish community prefer to conceal their Jewish identity when they are in the public space.”

The antisemitic mindset is seemingly taking hold of the next generation as well.

A Jewish school teacher told the hearing that schoolchildren attending a Chabad summer camp were “cursed and shoved” by 10-year-old locals who called them “dirty Jews.”

Since the beginning of the war nine months ago, 3,714 French Jews have opened Aliya (immigration) files at the Jewish Agency, but there is a far greater potential, as studies show that fully 38% of French Jews, some 200,000 people, are considering leaving the country.

Ariel Kandel, CEO of Qualita, an umbrella organization for French immigrants to Israel, told the committee that there is easily a potential for 50,000 to come to the Jewish state even this year, because “It is not just the French street that is antisemitic, it is the French establishment as well.”

He urged the government to “formulate a serious plan” to help them.

Officials from the ministries of Aliyah and Integration, and Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, said in response that they are preparing plans to assist Jewish communities “worldwide,” and needed more budgets to expand their work.

National Aliyah Promotion Company head Arie Abitbol specifically mentioned the need for funding Hebrew studies abroad, which help immigrants’ absorption into the Israeli workforce.

“We are missing a budget of about NIS 2 million in order to operate additional ulpans for Hebrew-language studies,” he said. “In France, hundreds of people are on the waiting list for … the ulpans.”

Some 700 French Jews have immigrated to Israel since the beginning of the year. About a hundred came Monday, with video clips on social media showing the group waving small Israeli flags and singing “Am Yisrael Chai,” (the Jewish people live) after landing.

AliyahEuropean antisemitismFrench Jews