Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04PARIS5906
2004-08-10 08:14:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Paris
Cable title:  

"J,ACCUSE:" SHARON COMMENTS SPARK QUESTIONS

Tags:  FR IS KIRF PHUM PREL 
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100814Z Aug 04

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EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
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AMCONSUL JERUSALEM
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)

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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