Despite Mideast Turmoil, More French Jews Moving To Israel

[lorin]

www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2014/07/24/ ... &utm_term=

Jews are leaving France and moving to Israel in unprecedented numbers this year.

With the departures expected to surpass 5,000, France could pull ahead of the U.S. for Jewish emigration to Israel, known as aliya. Usually, making aliya is a cause for celebration. But in France this year, it's tinged with bitterness.

The country, which has Western Europe's largest Muslim and Jewish populations, is experiencing repercussions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In Paris, pro-Palestinian demonstrations have turned violent, as some demonstrators attacked a synagogue and clashed with riot police.

But even before the latest Mideast flare-up, French Jews say there's been a rise in anti-Semitism in France and across Europe.

Four people were gunned down outside the Jewish museum in neighboring Belgium in May, and three Jewish schoolchildren and a teacher were killed in the southern city of Toulouse in 2012. Both attacks were carried out by young Frenchmen of North African descent, who recently had returned from fighting alongside extremists in places like Syria.

The combination of this violence and the stagnant French economy is fueling the emigration. So far this year, more than 2,000 French Jews have left, up from 580 during the same period last year.

Earlier this month, a Paris synagogue overflowed during a goodbye ceremony for the latest group of Jews to move to Israel.

Among them are Steven Taieb and Meyer Zouari. Both are leaving their families to move to Israel this summer. Armed with computer science degrees, they hope to find good jobs.

Though both young men claim they've always wanted to move to the Holy Land to fully live their faith, they say the recent climate precipitated their departure. Zoauri's father David believes his son made the right decision.

"France is no longer the beautiful country it was," he said. "It's being invaded. Its secularism is being compromised. All you see are women wearing veils in the streets, and mosques are sprouting up everywhere."

France, Zoauri says, is turning into a Muslim country.

Both of the young Jewish men say they grew up in the Paris suburbs, in mixed communities where Jews, Muslims and Christians co-existed.

Taieb said his family never had any problems: "We all said hello to each other and respected each other."

But Zouari had a different experience living amid his Muslim peers.

"I never knew if someone might try to do something to me just because I was Jewish," he said. "For example, I never felt comfortable wearing my skull cap outside. That would have been a provocation."

After singing a beautiful ballad about Jerusalem, the Paris congregation listened to France's head rabbi, who reminded them of their attachment to France, the first country to give Jews full rights as citizens in 1791. Aside from the tragic deportations during the World War II, France generally has been a haven for Jews. Since the that war, the French government has redoubled efforts to make Jewish families feel welcome.

The new wave of anti-Semitism is coming from a young generation Muslims of African and North African descent who are spurred on by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, said Martine Cohen, a religious expert at France's National Center for Scientific Research.

"Jews know that French authorities are behind them and want to defend them," she says. "This is not a state anti-Semitism. It's an anti-Semitism coming from society."

At a small theater not far from the synagogue, controversial comedian Dieudonne Mbala Mbala performs a crude routine, with plenty of anti-Semitic themes.

Dieudonne always has denied being anti-Semitic, saying he is anti-Zionist. The French interior minister has tried unsuccessfully to ban the shows of this half-African, half-French provocateur, who has a large Internet following.

Outside the theater after the show, some fans — a cluster of young Muslim men — said Dieudonne was not anti-Semitic, just anti-system.

Rabbi Michel Serfaty is furious with the system — and with both French and Jewish authorities. He says they are dealing with the crisis in the wrong way, fighting in the courts instead of working in the streets.

On a recent afternoon, Serfaty handed out flyers in front of a mosque. He said French Muslim and Jewish communities are living in two separate worlds, and must make an attempt to get to know one another.

His flyer says Jews and Muslims must commit to treating each other with mutual respect. Most of the worshippers who talk to Serfaty agree, and say what he's doing is a good thing. Serfaty has a long conversation with one observant Muslim who wears a beard and a djellaba robe, and who says the world for too long has allowed Israel to savage the Palestinians' plight.

"But that isn't our problem here," says Serfaty. "It's a geopolitical problem far away from us and has nothing to do with us. We live in France, we speak French, and it's in both our interests to build this society together. We are all French."

Serfaty has hired and trained several young Muslims to go into Muslim-populated areas and help him with his outreach project. He said that they're making inroads, but that it's a drop in the bucket.

He says the French state needs to employ a battalion of such young people to help turn the tide of misinformation and hate. If not, he said, Jews will continue to leave France.

[Ananda]

The same is happening here. The biggest city near us is Malmö and jews are having issues with muslims there (there is a large muslim concentration in that city because of the Rosengård district where refugees and immigrants mostly from muslim countries have been housed that even the fire department fears to go without police escort). Many are said to be talking about leaving.

[lorin]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliyah

The emigration stats at the end of this link are very interesting.

[SerScot]

Finn,

Care to comment about the rise in anti-Jewish sentiment in Europe?

[TheFallen]

I don't think there's exactly a rise in anti-Semitism in Europe. Well okay, Europe's federalist economy-inspired problems have led to a rise in support of the far right, as has been noted elsewhere, and there may be a resultant rise in xenophobia, but that'll be generic and anti-immigration, rather than specifically anti-Semitic.

What there notably has been over the last week or so is a growing disquiet and disturbance at Israel's apparently ever-increasing heavy-handed militaristic actions vis à vis Gaza

Okay I take on board Zar's impassioned defence of current Israeli policy - his question as to what else they should do is well posed - but it remains a given (and one there's a growing awareness of) that Israel is the seeming beneficiary of a permanent "get out of jail free" card, as far as Western governments and media are concerned.

Israel has, I believe, contravened or ignored far more UN directives than any other nation, as far as the Palestinian issue goes. Its single-minded "fuck you" approach can easily be seen as both hegemonistic and inflammatorily uncompromising. I haven't got the casualty figures to hand as far as this most recent tragic debacle goes, but I half heard a news report yesterday citing 55 Israeli deaths (mainly military) as compared to 1500+ Palestinian deaths (primarily civilian).

It's bitterly telling to compare the West's robust approach to Russia over Ukraine to its seeming tacit acceptance of - or at best disinterest in - Israel's hawkish and encroaching annexation of Palestinian land. This is no doubt in part due to the Jewish lobby's being deeply embedded within high-level politics across the West and particularly within the USA - a downplay of support for Israel is a guaranteed election loser. Moreover, the fourth estate's partisan reporting on the conflict is equally as eyebrow-raising.

I have no idea what a viable solution would be, but it's demonstrable that current strategies and policies are resoundingly ineffective. It may be that Hashi's bleak pragmatism is right - let 'em duke it out until one side or the other is eradicated - but I hope not, since Israel would almost certainly go nuclear if its back was against a wall.

Is it not about time that Palestine was fully recognised as a nation by the international community (rather than merely "non-member observer state"), with defined borders and given all the rights and protections under international law (such as they are)? Both sides are there to stay, barring some unimaginably hideous demi-armageddon, and thus both sides need dealing with even-handedy and from the same starting point. As a side note, Palestine only achieved this "non-member observer state" status within the UN in 2012, by a vote of 138 in favour to 9 against, with 41 abstentions. Of the 9 against, only notable were the USA, Canada and Israel. The UK, Germany and Australia were among the 41 abstentions.

[finn]

Finn,

Care to comment about the rise in anti-Jewish sentiment in Europe?

More than happy to defer to TF who sums it up nicely.

I would add tho' that the extent of the embedding of pro Zionists into America really does see the tail wagging the dog, with almost the entire news and entertainment media empires, the upper end of the legal system, the banking and finance system; pretty much all the shapers or enforcers of opinion and the money backing them. America does what the Jewish Lobby tells it to!

There are no politicians or public figures able or willing to oppose the Jewish lobby, as the consequences are usually pretty devastating with slander, scandal mongering, and other underhanded tactics to discredit anyone bold enough to criticise the Jewish hold on American policy or Israel's murderous use of the billions of dollars in weapons: described as foreign aid to Israel. Opposition? Well its the old adage about taking on someone who buys ink by the barrel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu0vQrZbhQo

The media howls at Russia and the amount of focus and attention on Ukraine acts as the perfect cover for diverting attention from Israel's action in Gaza, whilst displaying the upmost levels of hypocrisy in levelling accusation at Russia suppling arms whilst American supplied arms kill hundreds and hundreds of children in Gaza. Meanwhile people who descry abortion as killing children manage to rationalise this as justifiable!!!! WTF!

Let me ask you SerScot, do you think this is an ideological thing, Muslims against Jews, or is there some other reason? Perhaps we can also note in passing that the right of return is something the Jews have, which they have denied the Palestinians..... still as they steal more Palestinian land, the settlements will accommodate an expansion of the Israeli population far easier if there is a corresponding reduction of Palestinians.

[TheFallen]

Just found this very relevant Youtube video from Dec 2012 which is really eye-opening. I commend it to you.

The speaker, Miko Peled, is the Israeli son of an army general, but gives a frankly surprising yet informed view on Zionism and Israel.

Finn, you'd very definitely appreciate this peace campaigner's thoughts and sentiments.

[SoulBiter]

And the other side - "Son of Hamas" leader that was being groomed at one time to take a leadership position within Hamas.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6XYphUeeH4

[SerScot]

What do attacks on Synagoges in Europe have to do with Israel? Can European Jews control any of Israel's actions? How is vandalizing Synagoges an expression of "Anti-Zionist" sentiment and not "Anti-Jewish" sentiment?

Does the distinction matter to Jews living in Europe? Where, gosh, less than a century ago their people were being systematically slaughtered.

[finn]

This from Great Britain

https://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/24618 ... tary-says/

Gaza situation is intolerable, UK foreign secretary says:

Britain believes the situation in the Gaza Strip has become intolerable and could lead to an increase in anti-Semitic attacks on British Jews, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said in a newspaper interview to be published on Sunday.

Hammond told the Daily Telegraph he was receiving thousands of emails from Britons "deeply disturbed" at events in Gaza since Israel launched an offensive against Hamas and other guerrillas in response to a surge of cross-border rocket salvoes.

"The British public has a strong sense that the situation of the civilian population in Gaza is intolerable and must be addressed — and we agree with them,” Hammond said.

He called for an immediate ceasefire without conditions.

"We understand that Israel has concerns, we understand that Hamas has concerns. We are not saying we’re not interested in those," he told the paper in an interview conducted on Thursday.

"But we cannot allow them to stand in the way of a humanitarian ceasefire. We have to get the killing to stop."

Palestinian officials say the Gaza death toll has risen to 1,675, most of them civilians. Israel has confirmed that 63 soldiers have died in combat, while Palestinian shelling has killed three civilians in Israel.

On Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would go on fighting Hamas in the Gaza Strip even after the army destroys cross-border tunnels used by Palestinian militants to attack its territory, the main goal for its incursion.

On Thursday, a group that advises Britain's 260,000 Jews on security matters said anti-Semitic incidents in Britain had risen to a near-record level since the start of the Israeli offensive.

The Community Security Trust said there had been 130 anti-Semitic incidents in July - the second highest monthly total on record

Asked if the fighting in Gaza could lead to more attacks on British Jews, Hammond told the Telegraph: "Of course it’s a concern and we have already seen certainly an upturn in anti-Semitic rhetoric."

"But what has struck me most looking at my own constituency in-box as well as the thousands of emails that I’m receiving from the general public here is that it isn’t just the Muslim community that’s reacting to this," he said.

"It’s a broad swathe of British public opinion that feels deeply disturbed by what it is seeing on its television screens coming out of Gaza."

[SerScot]

What the hell do European Jews have to do with Israel beyond also being Jewish. Are people really that stupid that they think attacking non-Israeli Jews is somehow a real strike against Israel?

Please tell me they aren't that dumb.

[finn]

I tend to agree and certainly Europe in general is not supportive of Israel or its actions politically or materially in the way that the US is. However Europe has significant problems with racism and general ultra right factions; the treatment of visiting football teams is an atrocious example of this and meets with no more than a "Tsk, Tsk" from the footballing authorities or various governments!

Teams with black players (nearly all teams) are hounded with monkey chants and bananas thrown onto the pitch, Tottenham Hotspur who have a long tradition of Jewish affiliation (this by the way, is my team), are subject to hissing (to simulate Gassing) and other anti Jewish songs and chants. Add the increase in immigration into Europe, the congregating of people in what are essentially ghettos and the pressure on space, jobs etc., and it can reinforce the hate narrative. The behaviour of these thugs just needs an outlet; what Israel is doing in Palestine provides a convenient rationale.

Oh, and I think they are in fact dumb!

[SerScot]

Stupidity is the only rational explaination for holding European Jews, or any non-Israeli, reponsible for the actions of the Israeli government. Hell, holding Israeli citizens collectively responsible for Israeli government actions is about as rational as holding the a erage Gazan responsible for Hamas.

[finn]

Stupidity is the only rational explaination for holding European Jews, or any non-Israeli, reponsible for the actions of the Israeli government. Hell, holding Israeli citizens collectively responsible for Israeli government actions is about as rational as holding the a erage Gazan responsible for Hamas.

Again I agree, but that doesn't stop the IDF!

[SerScot]

Finn,

In other words, this is stupid people believing they are "acting" with not basis in fact?

[finn]

Yes, this is actual racism at work, as opposed to people throwing the word racist around because it challenges their beliefs, their sacred cows or they simply have no other argument than to suppose the problem lies with anyone who is prepared to call it as it is, not how they might like it to be.

Many of these gangs in Europe are populated by the poorest educated people whose own circumstances are being attributed to immigrants and other minorities, rather than their own expectations not being met by their capability or willingness to accept that they have no special entitlement.

[Cybrweez]

This is not racism. I'm not even sure why Jews are a race. Who determines what is a race anyway?

This is one religion pretty clearly saying another religion has no rights, and to a large extent, deserve such treatment. This is why synagogues are attacked - they are not racial buildings, but religious buildings.

Bible said Jerusalem will be the world's stumbling block - who would've thought it so 100 years ago?

[SerScot]

Cybr,

Anti-Jewish sentiment/bias isn't racism? Are you suggesting its okay to be biased against Jews as a whole?

[Cybrweez]

LOL. Exactly SS. Good work...

I noticed you didn't answer my question (it's in the 1st line, hard to miss). Maybe if you can, your question would make sense.

[SerScot]

Cybr,

Your question suggests that racism shouldn't exist because there is no proper catagorization for what a "race" actually is.

So, you do not think bias against a group of people, whether they can be catagorized as a "race" or not, is okay?