After Nice Attack, Christian-Jewish Group Expects Rise In Aliyah From France
By Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein/JNS.org July 18, 2016
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The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (The Fellowship) humanitarian organization, which has been helping French Jews make aliyah, is receiving thousands of inquiries from French Jews who want to immigrate to Israel and is expecting that figure to grow after last weeks terror attack in Nice.
The Fellowship has reported more than 5,000 phone calls and hundreds of emails from French Jews asking about aliyah in recent months. The organization brought 82 French Jews to Israel in June and is preparing to bring more than 150 others this month, including several families from Nice.
French Jews who were attending a Fellowship-organized aliyah meeting in Nice on Thursday met just one block away from the site where the terrorist drove a truck into a crowd of people celebrating Bastille Day and fired munitions, killing at least 84 people. Five Jews were among the many additional people who were injured, but no Jews are reported to have been killed.
"We mourn for the victims of this despicable attack and pray for a speedy recovery for those who were hurt," said Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, founder and president of The Fellowship, which said it expects the number of Jews seeking to leave France to rise further following the Nice attack.
Many French Jews have described a high level of anti-Semitism in their country, in addition to the growing threat of terror affecting all of Europe.
"Sadly, this horrific attack underscores the pressing need to help bring as many Jews who wish to leave France to their homeland in Israel, and this is what we will continue to do," Eckstein said.
Originally published at JNS.org - posted with permission.
