Ex-Israeli Defense Minister Urges Jews to Flee France Amid Political Power Shift

(UnitedHeadlines.com) – Former Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman urged Jewish people living in France to flee the country following the country’s parliamentary elections.

The country’s parliamentary elections saw French President Emmanuel Macron align with the far-left New Popular Front election bloc, made up of the five major parties and many smaller ones, to remain in power and defeat Marine Le Pen’s populist right.

On July 9, Lieberman warned, “There is no time” as the shift in political power to the far-left raised concerns about antisemitism and the potential implications for the Jewish community’s safety and rights. He urged Jewish people living in France to immediately “immigrate to the State of Israel.”

The head of the Yisrael Beytenu Party, Lieberman described the far-left head of France’s Unbowed Party, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who has called for the far-left to govern, as someone “representing pure antisemitism.”

Lieberman’s warning comes as French-Jewish leaders of the 500,000-member community have advised younger Jewish people to emigrate to Israel, raising concerns over the rise in antisemitism in the country, especially after the political shift to the far left.

French Rabbi Moshe Sebbag of Synagogue de la Victoire is one of the leaders who advised young Jews to move to Israel, stating France has “no future for Jews.”

Ninety-two percent of the Jewish community in France believes Mélenchon and the far-left have contributed to the increase in antisemitism that has occurred since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas in Israel, which killed 1,200 people. In early 2024, data from the French government showed there had been over 360 attacks on Jewish people, representing a 300 percent increase from the previous year.

Israel’s Immigration and Absorption Minister Ofir Sofer stated that Israel would “welcome the Jews of France,” noting that the country was “working to speed up procedures for French Jews” in preparation for a significant number of Jewish people immigrating from Western countries.