By John Lichfield in Paris

07 January 2003

Emigration of French Jews to Israel doubled last year, after attacks on Jews by young Arabs supporting the Palestinian cause and an electoral breakthrough by the anti-Semitic, extreme right. The emigration figures, published by the Israeli government, come three days after the stabbing of a liberal rabbi in Paris.

The highest Jewish emigration for 30 years has been followed by a dispute over a proposal by a university in Paris that the European Union cut off financial aid to Israeli universities. Jewish students demonstrated against the move by the Pierre-et-Marie-Curie university yesterday, comparing it to the boycotting of Jewish interests by the Nazis before the Second World War.

But the emigration figures need to be kept in proportion. There are 1.2 million Jews in France, by far the largest population of any EU country. Of these, 2,326, or just under 0.2 per cent, decided to move to Israel last year. Yet Jewish organisations in France have been alarmed at the doubling of the figures in one year, despite the violence in the Middle East. Most of the emigrants are said to be in their 20s and 30s.

Julie, aged 20, from the Paris area, told the newspaper Le Monde yesterday that her parents agreed to let her go to Israel after she was attacked as she walked to her synagogue last winter. "Until last year, we were proud to be French," she said. "No longer. Now we are proud to be Jewish." more

-- Anonymous, January 06, 2003