2015 Exodus: Almost 10,000 Jews Fled to Israel From W. Europe Terror

In 2015, almost 10,000 Jews — the highest annual number ever — fled to Israel to escape the escalating terrorist attacks in western Europe. The exodus is double the number of Jews who left just two years ago, and nearly 8,000 of them were from France.

 

France has the third largest Jewish population in the world, approximately 500,000. However, nearly 800 Jews also left Britain last year, and large numbers also moved out of Italy and Belgium.

 

France has of late been the prime target of terrorists, such as the attacks in Paris on November 13, which killed 130 people on the one-year anniversary of the murders of a dozen employees at the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. The killings at the magazine office were presumably in response to several satirical cartoons published in Charlie Hebdo depicting the prophet Muhammad — actions considered blasphemous by Muslims.

 

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