US embassy cable - 04PARIS5906

C O N F I D E N T I A L  PARIS 005906 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/09/2014 
TAGS: FR, IS, KIRF, PHUM, PREL 
SUBJECT: "J,ACCUSE:" SHARON COMMENTS SPARK QUESTIONS 
REGARDING FRENCH JEWISH MIGRATION 
 
 
Classified By: CHARGE ALEX WOLFF FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D) 
 
1.  (SBU) Summary and comment: Israeli PM Ariel Sharon's July 
18 call for Jews to emigrate from France to Israel  "as early 
as possible" in order to escape the "wildest anti-Semitism" 
touched off a barrage of criticism from both the GoF and 
French Jewish community.  Although Sharon had qualified his 
statements by noting that the GoF was taking steps to combat 
anti-Semitism, and Israeli officials diluted the message to 
indicate that it was part of a worldwide message for all Jews 
to migrate to Israel, the furious reaction to Sharon's speech 
demonstrated just how sensitive the issue of anti-Semitism, 
and its link to the broader question of Muslim integration, 
is in France.  Numerous French press reports on the 
controversy noted that the numbers of French Jews migrating 
to Israel doubled between 2001 and 2002/3 but remain within 
the "normal" historical range for France.  A June Jewish 
Agency survey reportedly indicated that over 30,000 of 
France's 600,000 Jews planned to immigrate to Israel "in the 
near future."  We do not currently expect Jewish emigration 
to reach anywhere near such levels, but unease in the Jewish 
community is pervasive, to the point that unsettling events 
over a sustained period could spark a significant departure 
of Jews from the country.  End summary and comment. 
 
2.  (SBU) July 18 comments by PM Sharon that French Jews 
should emigrate to Israel "as early as possible" to escape 
the "wildest anti-Semitism" sparked a firestorm of criticism 
from senior GoF officials, French Jewish religious and 
community leaders, and politicians from across the political 
spectrum.  Subsequent GoI explanations that Sharon's remarks 
were taken out of context and part of a general appeal to 
Jews worldwide failed to temper widespread indignation in 
France.  Both local Israeli Embassy and MFA officials told us 
Sharon's remarks were perceived by the GoF as an attack on 
President Chirac, which explained the "overreaction" on the 
French side.  In response, Chirac's Diplomatic Adviser 
Maurice Gourdault-Montagne demarched the Israeli Embassy to 
declare that Sharon would not be invited to France either now 
or in the foreseeable future, while FM Barnier called 
publicly for an official explanation (which was never 
forthcoming) and decried Sharon's statement as "intolerable" 
and "unacceptable." 
 
3.  (C)  The MFA DAS for Israeli/Palestinian/Levant Affairs 
Christian Jouret later told us that he found both Sharon's 
remarks and the French reaction "insufferable."   He also 
opined that Sharon may have viewed France as an easy target 
before a largely American audience.  Israeli Embassy 
Political Counselor Ella Aphek, meanwhile, stressed to us the 
inadvertent nature of Sharon's remarks, which she said 
nonetheless had destroyed the modest progress in 
French-Israeli relations achieved since the successful visit 
of Israeli President Katsav to Paris last February.  The GoF 
was eventually mollified by July 29 remarks by PM Sharon, 
who, while welcoming a group of some 200 new immigrants from 
France, paid tribute to Chirac's efforts to combat 
anti-Semitism.  The MFA, in response, noted Sharon's remarks 
"with satisfaction" and announced that FM Barnier would 
likely visit Israel in October.   Although this latest crisis 
in French-Israeli relations appears to have subsided, it has 
re-fixed attention on the recent increase in French Jewish 
migration to Israel, and its causes. 
 
4.  (U) Since its creation in 1948, nearly 70,000 Jews have 
immigrated to Israel from France.  Recent annual numbers show 
a two-fold increase in migration between 2001 (1,007) and 
2002 (2,035), with 2003,s figure (2,086) very close to the 
previous year.  Press accounts have attributed this increase 
to a similar rise in anti-Semitic attacks since late 2000 
when the second Palestinian Intifada began.  When put into 
context, however, comparable increases in these numbers can 
be seen throughout the 56-year history of Israel.  Larger 
numbers of immigrants left France, possibly in response to 
the 1967 Six Day War, in 1968 (2,526), 1969 (5,292), 1970 
(4,414), 1971 (3,281), and 1972 (2,356).  Jewish emigration 
from France leveled off for several years, averaging between 
1,300-1,400 annual departures, before spiking again in 1982 
(2,094).  The 1990s, too, saw a dramatic increase in 
migrants, with numbers rising as high as 1,870 in 1996 and 
1,938 in 1997  which France's Ambassador to Israel Gerard 
Araud publicly attributed to post-Oslo "golden years" -- 
before declining to a relatively low figure of 1,007 in 2001, 
just prior to the most recent escalation.  Recent numbers 
indicate that 687 French Jews migrated to Israel from January 
through June of 2004.  (Note: Reports differ in criteria and 
statistics regarding Jewish immigration to Israel.  The most 
comprehensive statistics available are based on information 
from the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics.  End note.) 
 
5.  (U) More significant than the precise number of French 
Jews migrating to Israel is their reasons for emigrating. 
 
 
Media interviews with newly arrived French immigrants 
indicate that most go to Israel for "positive," i.e. 
religious or Zionist, reasons.  Reference, however, is often 
made to anti-Semitism in France, though not as the primary 
reason for emigration.  Financial incentives, increased in 
January 2002 to allow French Jews to benefit from the highest 
levels of immigrant aid, may have also contributed to the 
recent increase.  In July, the Jewish Agency's Paris 
representatives met with Israeli authorities to determine how 
best to capitalize on its June poll that indicated 30,000 
Jews in France expressed what was variously reported as 
willingness or desire to emigrate to Israel.  As a result, 
"hundreds of envoys" will reportedly be sent to France by the 
Jewish Agency especially to those areas with high Muslim 
populations, and further incentives for immigrants are to be 
developed for French Jews. 
 
6.  (SBU) The rise in anti-Semitic attacks in France is real. 
 The first six months of 2004 saw 510 such acts, as opposed 
to 593 for the entire year in 2003.  While the government has 
vigorously condemned such attacks in public and taken steps 
to address the issue, including increased police presence at 
Jewish institutions, harsher sentences for those who commit 
racist or anti-Semitic crimes, and programs aimed at 
combating anti-Semitism in schools, the real roots of the 
problem -- poor integration of the Muslim community in France 
and the extrapolation of the Middle East conflict -- still 
remain. 
 
7.  (U) The intense backlash against Sharon's comments, 
particularly by the Jewish community in France, would suggest 
that most French Jews believe that the GoF is serious in 
addressing the rise in anti-Semitism and see their future in 
France as secure.  Jewish leaders have been notably 
supportive of recent government actions taken to address the 
rise in anti-Semitic attacks.  A member from the 
Representative Council of Jewish Institutions (CRIF), the 
most powerful political organization of the Jewish community 
in France, stated that the Jewish community "knows that the 
political class is doing all it can to fight against 
anti-Semitism." 
 
8.  (SBU) Comment: CRIF pronouncements aside, we sense a 
greater pessimism in the French Jewish community at large. 
In the view of many, good intentions on the part of the GoF 
may not, over time, suffice in the face of a growing and 
increasingly radicalized Muslim population (which is only 
encouraged by France's continuing, harsh criticism of GoI 
policies).  Rising anxiety may not yet have tipped the 
migration statistics in a significant way, but anecdotal 
evidence suggests that many French Jews have made provisions 
for a future move.  We understand that purchases of homes in 
Israel by families still residing in France has risen in the 
last few years, and we even hear of families where 
breadwinners divide their time between the two countries as 
part of a gradual shift out of France.   Also not captured by 
the emigration figures cited above is the departure of 
French Jews to other destinations, notably the U.S. and 
Canada.  In all, the picture is one of a steady and rising 
level of departures, and the strong possibility of a 
significant outflow if the confidence of Western Europe's 
largest Jewish community continues to erode.  End Comment. 
Wolff 
 
 
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