Encouraging Jews from all countries to move to Israel is in Israel’s DNA, and Israel could greatly benefit from an influx of French immigrants. But Israeli leaders ought to pause before calling for a mass exodus of French Jews.
Does the Jewish state want to actively contribute to ending many hundreds of years of French Jewish history? Does it want to convey the message that yes, as the terrorists argue, there is no place for Jews in France? Does it want to imply that French efforts to protect Jews have been a failure? Does it want the world to see fearful Jews fleeing from Europe en masse yet again?
France is home to a great Jewish civilization, the third-largest Jewish community in the world — a Jewish community in a Western, liberal country that seems to be in great trouble.
