Hundreds in Tel Aviv remember French terror victims

More than 250 people gathered in Tel Aviv on Saturday night for a memorial service honoring all of the victims of the terror attacks in France over the past week. Officials at the event called on French Jews to move to Israel as soon as possible.

“The situation is getting worse,” Eli Ben Dahan (Jewish Home), the Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs, told the crowd of mostly French Jews. “We need to strengthen the Jews of France, we are here to help them and give them any assistance they need, but we call on everyone there to move to Israel. There is no choice, the only safe place for Jews is here in Israel.”

The memorial service was organized at the last minute by the Tel Aviv Municipality, which partnered with the French Embassy and other French organizations. They had planned to hold the ceremony indoors in the municipality’s Young Adult Center, but the sheer number of people that showed up meant the ceremony was moved to the courtyard despite the rain. Another memorial is planned in Jerusalem on Sunday at 2:30 pm in Safra Square with Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat and Jerusalem Chief Rabbi Shlomo Moshe Amar.

“I came because we are French Jews, and in Paris the Jewish community is very united,” said 23-year-old Alex Ohayon. “My cousin lives just ten meters from the supermarket [where Friday’s attack took place] and we feel very concerned about what is happening in France,” he said.

But Ohayon disagreed with the call for all French Jews to make aliya and move to Israel, and is currently just visiting in Israel with no plans to move here permanently. “The Diaspora is very important for the Jewish people,” he said. “I have many friends that don’t want to make aliyah, and also, throughout history we see that many times the Diaspora has saved the Jewish people.” Ohayon’s friend David, who declined to give his last name, said many of his friends in France are active in forums that defend or promote Israel, which is an important thing to do in a place like France, he said.

Aurelia Azoulay, 23, is currently in the process of making aliya from France and expects to finish her paperwork in the next week. “When you see what’s going on with the French government, they don’t condemn this as a threat,” she said. “They don’t point out the anti-Semitism. In one week, we’ll be back to normal. We saw the same thing after the shooting in Toulouse [when three children and a rabbi were killed at a Jewish school in March 2012]. For two weeks, there was a lot of security at all of the schools. And then after two weeks, there was nothing. That’s the French mentality.”

French aliyah is increasing dramatically. In 2014, 7,000 Jews from France moved to Israel, the largest single-year movement of French Jews to Israel since the founding of the State. This also doubled the 3,400 Jews that came from France in 2013.

On December 31, Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky said he expects 10,000 Jews from France to move to Israel in 2015, though this was prior to the past week’s attacks. The Jewish Agency declined to comment on whether their activities in France would change in the coming year due to recent events.

Eytan Schwartz, a senior advisor to Tel Aviv mayor Ron Huldai said 1,100 French Jews moved to Tel Aviv in 2014, which was part of the reason the municipality decided to organize a memorial.

“When something like this happens, there is a need for the community to come together and express their emotions,” Schwartz said.