Many must have been reminded of the treatment of Jews under the Third Reich. Shortly after the attack on a Jewish school in the southern French city of Toulouse on Monday, school principals in the city walked into classrooms and asked the Jewish pupils to come forward. "We ask you to leave the class and join the other Jewish children, who are in a locked and safe location."
It was intended as a precaution in response to a request from the Jewish community. But it also highlights the degree to which many Jews in France feel that they are a threatened and increasingly excluded minority. Every year, these feelings prompt thousands to take a dramatic decision, namely, to pack their belongings and move to a crisis zone: Israel. They feel safer there.
Five years ago, Linda moved from Paris to Canada and then to the Israeli port city of Ashdod. Only a week ago, she, her husband and their two sons faced a hail of rockets from the Gaza Strip. Nevertheless, Linda, who doesn't want to be identified by her last name, is delighted to be living in France no longer. "It's much safer here than in France," she says.
"Anti-Semitism has become unbearable there," she says. "Children are harassed on their way to school just because they're Jews." She adds that she was also the victim of such harassment in the middle of the Champs-Élysées in Paris. "I was wearing a necklace with a Star of David attached to it," she recalls. "Someone barged into me. I said to him: 'You ought to excuse yourself!' All he said was that he didn't apologize to Jews." » | Gil Yaron in Tel Aviv | Thursday, March 22, 2012
Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan
Der Original-Artikel:
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Jüdische Fluchtwelle: Lieber Raketenhagel als Leben in Frankreich – Immer mehr französische Juden kaufen sich Wohnungen in Israel - schon lange vor den Mordattacken fühlten sie sich mit ihren Familien in der alten Heimat nicht mehr sicher. Der Anschlag von Toulouse könnte die Auswanderungswelle noch verstärken. » | Von Gil Yaron, Tel Aviv | Mittwoch, 21. März 2012
YNET NEWS: A Jew-free Europe: Op-ed: The ongoing process of Jews leaving European continent is tragic but unavoidable » | Giulio Meotti | Thursday, March 22, 2012
