According to the Jewish Agency for Israel, over 5,000 Jews from throughout France attended a fair in the heart of Paris about immigrating to Israel. The fair was attended by the Chairman of the Jewish Agency, former member of Knesset, Soviet expatriate and dissident Natan Sharansky. “I cannot recall having seen such a massive number of people interested in aliyah [immigration] since the days when lines of people stretched out of the Israeli embassy in Moscow,” said Sharansky. The fair took place the same day as the election that rousted Nicholas Sarkozy, a reliable anti-Iran voice in Europe, from power, replacing him with the far less reliable Francois Hollande, a socialist with heavy ties to anti-Israel populations.

The French Jewish community is comprised of approximately 500,000 people. Immigration from France to Israel has increased significantly over the past several years, largely due to upticks in perceived anti-Semitic feeling in the country.