In Israel, Preparing for an Influx of European Jews

On November 18, French President François Hollande spoke in Israel’s Knesset and showered praise on Israel and on the Jewish people in general. He also made special mention of the French expatriate community in Israel, and assured his audiences — in France as well as in Israel — that he would “not rest in fighting anti-Semitism.”
His host, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was equally gushing, as the recently renewed romance between Jerusalem and Paris went on public display. Old tiffs over Israeli-Palestinian relations were brushed aside, while Hollande and Netanyahu’s opposition to the Iranian nuclear program was highlighted.
But Netanyahu certainly knows, as must Hollande, that there was an elephant in the Knesset chamber. The silent presence was not Iranian President Hassan Rowhani or Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas — or even President Obama. Rather, it was the nearly half-million-strong French Jewish community and the sense of deep concern (“dread” might not be too strong a term) that pervades it.
Netanyahu knows — having been informed in Jerusalem and having seen and heard it firsthand in Paris — that French Jewry has lost faith in France and is looking to move. Indeed, many young French Jews have already relocated to London and New York, where newly formed French Jewish expat communities are growing rapidly. But if and when a large-scale outflow occurs, its destination will certainly be Israel.


Read more: http://forward.com/articles/188157/in-israel-preparing-for-an-influx-of-european-jews/#ixzz2mHi3BErz