How to stop Europe's jewish exodus to Israel

 

Figures revealed in the media recently put aliyah—the immigration of Jews to Israel—from Europe at a high, especially from France, home to the continent’s largest Jewish community. With a total of some 7,000 Jews leaving France for the Jewish state last year alone, I have been repeatedly asked the reasons for this and whether it serves as a sign that there is no future for Jews in Europe.

 

This last question in particular rankles me, as I have often stated that Jews may and must continue to command a home in their European homelands for as long as they so choose, and I continue to call on both national administrations and European institutions to vigorously defend their security and allow them to remain a part of Europe’s diverse society.

 

For me, one reason for this rise in immigration to Israel from France is inevitably the increased rate of anti-Semitic incidents occurring in France. The problem has escalated this year, with the Charlie Hebdo and Hypercacher attacks in January and November’s simultaneous terrorist attacks in Paris creating mass casualties in numbers not seen in Europe for many years and also extending the targets beyond European Jewry.

 

European Jews considering immigrating to Israel are likely afraid. Perhaps they also feel that European governments have not previously had to face such a heightened terrorism risk and therefore aren’t equipped to deal with it, unlike Israel with all its various mechanisms in place. The statistics also show that countries not subjected to terror attacks did not see a marked growth in aliyah to Israel. Governments must do all that is in their power to tackle the blight of anti-Semitism and assure Jews of their safety in Europe, in order to counter the arguments in favor of immigration to Israel. Europe’s Jews shouldn’t be forced to uproot themselves and move to Israel over fears for their security.

 

Despite wild predictions of likely increases in aliyah, the reality is that the majority of European Jews will remain in Europe. I believe it is the responsibility of all European rabbis and community leaders to stand up in defense of the right of European Jews to remain in Europe, to support and encourage their pride in their European heritage, and to fight for their safety and security.

 

Whilst there has been an inevitable increase in aliyah in the past year, especially from France, it is important to keep some perspective. French Jews have long had a reputation for their strong attachment to the Jewish state and, as such, always form a large part of these statistics. Whilst 7,000-plus seems like a large number, when you consider that there are more than 600,000 Jews in France those figures show that a very large majority of French Jews wish to remain in France and to remain French... Read more.

 

Source : http://europe.newsweek.com/how-stop-europes-jewish-exodus-israel-408822?rm=eu