Following Sunday's French elections result, Avigdor Liberman, head of Yisrael Beytenu, called on French Jews to make aliyah before it is too late in statements at a party meeting on Monday.Liberman called for French Jews to leave after the broad-left New Popular Front (NPF) election bloc received the most votes.
“His party represents pure antisemitism and expresses a significant increase in hatred of Israel and antisemitism,” Liberman said at the party meeting.
Under fire from all sides
French Jews were plagued on both sides of the political spectrum by extreme candidates, some with a long history of antisemitism and some with a very recent one.The elections led to no overall winner but saw the NPF come out with the largest vote share and, thus, the greatest chance to form a coalition.However, the NPF comprises five major parties and many smaller ones, ranging from center-left to far-left, leaving the total number of member parties in the dozens.Mélenchon’s France Unbowed (La France Insoumise) champions the far-left faction, the Ecologists back the Greens, and the Socialist Party supports the center-left.In addition, there are further parties and factions in the broad bloc, including the French Communist Party and several separatist and regionalist groups.The bloc also receives support from several major trade unions and left wing NGOs.In contrast, the Right formed a much smaller bloc composed of the traditional conservative party of France, Les Republicans, and the far Right National Rally, which is the ideological descendant of the Nazi collaborators and the extreme Right. Although it has moderated in recent years under Marine Le Pen, it has not been able to shake this heritage.
In the center lies the ailing Ensemble party of Presiden Macron, which took heavy losses to both the left and the right, losing 77 seats in the election.
French Jews were effectively disenfranchised by the current political climate, which saw them unwilling to vote for Macron's party due to the rising antisemitic violence experienced by French Jews, unable to vote for the left due to their alliance with far-left antisemites and strong anti-Israel stances, with some even justifying October 7, and regretting being forced to look to the far-right as ironically the only party willing to tackle antisemitism in France.
Liberman's call for a mass French Aliyah is not the first call for such a move, with the Rabbi of Paris Grand Synagogue Moshe Sebbag telling The 'Post' "There is no future for Jews in France."
Immigration and Absorption Minister Ofir Sofer responded to criticism that the government had not done enough to help Jews from Western countries make aliyah, saying, "The State of Israel is the home of the Jewish people, and the State of Israel invites you to return home, and we will welcome the Jews of France."
He added that they were working to speed up procedures for French Jews, and a minister in the Immigration Ministry said they were planning for a "significant wave of aliyah" from Western countries.