By Daniel Koren, Published: January 9th, 2015, Shalom Life 2014 was a banner year for anti-Semitism in France, the year of the quenelle, th...
By Daniel Koren, Published: January 9th, 2015, Shalom Life 2014 was a banner year for anti-Semitism in France, the year of the quenelle, the year where an estimated 17,000 people marched down the streets of Paris chanting 'Jews out of France', the year French pro-Palestinians attacked synagogues as a response to Operation Protective Edge, the year when three assailants broke into the home of a Jewish couple and raped a young 19-year-old woman. It was also the year where aliyah to Israel from the country was unprecedented though exact figures were never confirmed. Until now. As reported by the Jerusalem Post, and just hours after a synagogue in northeastern Paris was attacked by a radical Islamist terrorist, some 50,000 French Jews were interested in making aliyah in 2014. According to Natan Sharansky, chairman of the Jewish Agency, "the overwhelming majority" of Jews (possibly up to 70%) in France expressed a desire, or at least displayed their curiosity, of leaving the European country. ... After France, the largest delegation of immigrants to Israel in 2014 came from Ukraine. Sharansky noted that anti-Semitism was the most significant factor of rising aliyah from France, though, given this week's tragedy, terrorism seems likely to be a significant factor as well. Sharansky added that of approximately 600,000 French Jews, "hundreds of thousands" of them are currently contemplating aliyah. --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- French Jews are mainly actually so-called 'Arab Jews' (Tunisian/Moroccan/Algerian Jews), who had settled in France in the 1950s. Some are even 'Berber Jews'. But I believe they are culturally very different compared to Arab Muslims - much more socially liberal. --- --- --- Some French teens are nowadays seen coming to Israel to take part in 'cadet bootcamps' in the IDF. . #financial_support_div{ display:none; position: absolute; width:300px; height:180px; margin-left: -150px; margin-top: -70px; /*- half of width and height */ top:50%; left:50%; padding: 5px; opacity:0.9; filter:alpha(opacity=90); z-index:1000; background-color:#000; color: white; } .close_box{ background: gray; color:#fff; padding:1px 3px; display:inline; position:absolute; right:1px; margin-right: -13px; margin-top: -13px; border-radius:3px; cursor:pointer; border: 1px #000 solid; } $(document).on("click",".close_box",function(){ $(this).parent().fadeTo(300,0,function(){ $(this).remove(); }); }); Loading the player ... Less
