Why are French Jews leaving France?

Jerusalem Post ^ | 9-13-06 | CARL HOFFMAN

[RichInOC]

I can't take credit for that. SNL did it as a parody tourism commercial.

[Northern Alliance]

"France is not an anti-Semitic country," said Roger Cukierman, president of an umbrella group of Jewish organizations in France, in April 2005. "Out of a population of about 600,000, some 2,400 people making aliya is not very many, in spite of all the talk about leaving."

An article I read on FR about a month ago said 50% of French Jews had left within the last 10 or maybe it was 15 years - an astounding number.

[Nachum]

... the number of Jews leaving France for Israel: 11,148 between 2000 and 2005, with a 35-year high of 3,300 Jewish immigrants in 2005. While statistics for 2006 are unavailable, every indication suggests another banner year for French immigration to Israel

Considering the size of the Jewish population in France, the numbers would represent approx 2 to 3 percent of French Jews.

It is not quite a "flood".

[dervish]

"Other community leaders accuse the Jewish Agency of playing on French Jews' fears of anti-Semitism while knowing that there will simply not be enough jobs or employment opportunities waiting when they arrive in Israel. "

Israel managed to find work for est one million people from the FSU. They can find work for 2,400 French Jews.

[dervish]

"Former prime minister Ariel Sharon angered the French government in 2004 by urging French Jews to immigrate to Israel for their own safety"

PM Sharon's mistake was in not including Jews from the UK, Belgium and Holland in that statement.

[bboop]

Boy, I'd leave too. The government won't protect them from the lowlife scum islamofascists, why stay there and support the government? And if the gov is too weak to protect these few, what ARE they capable of doing? I'd run screaming.

[justiceseeker93]

Ping!

Please comment on this thread from your perspective as a French Jew. Very interested to hear what you have to say.

[justiceseeker93]

An article I read on FR about a month ago said 50% of French Jews had left within the last 10 or maybe...15 years...

That number was grossly axaggerated.

[MarkL]

At the same time, however, critics charge that much of the motivation to leave France can be attributed to a concerted effort by the Israeli government to lure French Jews to Israel. With Jewish immigration from the former Soviet Union having apparently dried up for the moment and the long dreamt-of influx of immigrants from English-speaking countries yet to materialize, Israel is looking to France's Jewish community - the second largest in Europe - to provide a fertile source of "warm bodies" to settle here and add weight to the demographic balance of Jews and Arabs.

And I can see the Israeli department of immigration advertisements in France... "Come to Israel. We like Jews, and we won't kill you!"

Best sort of ad. Simple. To the point. Tells the truth!

Mark

[justiceseeker93]

While the history of antisemitism in France is real, it should be pointed out that it is much less severe when compared to Germany and much of Eastern Europe, and the Arab world of the 20th century.

On the other hand, Napoleon, for all his flaws, intituted citizen's rights for Jews within his empire, a step which was revolutionary in the Europe of his era.

Furthermore, though Dreyfus was wrongfully convicted of treason, this serious injustice was officially redressed - with the assistance of the Jewish community and many non-Jews alike - and he was released from a long imprisonment.

Not to condone the French, but their historical attitudes toward Jews must be placed in the proper perspective by comparison to other European countries.

[Slings and Arrows]

"With all that's going on in the world, isn't it about time we got back to hating the French?"

I never left.

[LadyNavyVet]

That's good to hear. I think we should offer visas to all of Europe's Jews. Jews are, by and large, intelligent and hardworking, and would be an asset to this country. And they'd be a LOT safer here then in Eurabia.

[dfwgator]

Could it be.....MUSLIMS!!!!

[LadyNavyVet]

then=than

[cricket]

Have a friend, Jewish and French. . .whose planned eventually to return to her home - France, w/her husband (American) when he retired.

Upon each visit back to her family; these past few years; she encountered more bitterness. . .ugliness/rudeness etc. and in turn, felt a growing sense of being 'disenfranched'.

The plans have now changed. Now, they will visit France. . .but stay in USA. Quality of life better - and her experience of just living it.

[cricket]

. . .for the 'record'- that 'disenfranched'would be. . .disenfranchised.

[DungeonMaster]

I'm too sexy for this song.

[attiladhun2]

Because Muslims are the anointed victims de jure in the MSM and among leftie elites in general (just look how they tried to spin the recent Hizbo/Israeli conflict). Thus, they are a protected class, whereas Jews and Christians are not. You know good and well that if Muslims were being beaten and mosques were being vandalized and torched, the MSM would splash it all over the front page and every politician (esp. lib) would be handwringing and moaning about "intolerance."

[miss marmelstein]

They're settling in on the Upper West Side where most of the inhabitants are non-stop critics of Israel???

[M. Espinola]

During the Shoah the occupying German Gestapo would not have been able to deport the Jewish population of France, without the always willing assistance of the collaborating Vichy Nazis.