“The community’s security service asked us to stay on the premises because of a pro-Palestinian demonstration in front of the building. We were then exfiltrated and escorted back to our car by security. I told myself that I was definitely not safe in France. What am I still doing here?.”

Pro-Palestinian activists have attacked an aliyah fair organized by the Jewish Agency for Israel to promote immigration to Israel of French Jews.

“The address will be given to you once you have registered”, said the Jewish Agency for Israel website on the page devoted to the recent aliyah fairs held in Paris, Marseille and Lyon.

Unfortunately, this precaution did not prevent the Salon from being attacked by anti-Israel activists in Lyon, i24news reported.

Le Progrès local newspaper  reported the events in just a few lines on its website, with the headline: “Pro-Palestinian demonstrators attack Alyah fair: six arrested”. A few hours earlier, tags reading “Free Palestine” and “Ici on recrute des colons” (Here settlers are recruited) had been discovered on the wall of the Jewish Unified Social Fund (FSJU) offices hosting the event.

Much more than a simple news item, this attack symbolically sums up the situation of many French people of the Jewish faith: a physical kick that acts like a kick in the ass, wrote i24news.

“The community’s security service asked us to stay on the premises because of a pro-Palestinian demonstration in front of the building. We were then exfiltrated and escorted back to our car by security. I told myself that I was definitely not safe in France. What am I still doing here?,” said Nadine, one of the participants.

In recent decades, the tragedies experienced by Jews in France have led to an increase in departures to Israel. Since the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks, immigration of Jews from the Diaspora has risen sharply.