French aliyah: finding the delicate balance

JERUSALEM — The moment the news broke about the horrific attack on the kosher supermarket in Paris, there was almost completely unanimous reaction here in Israel. The expressions of anger and shock at the series of recent ghastly attacks in France were followed almost immediately with calls for the Jews of France to move to Israel.

There is no denying that aliyah is a central element of political Zionism. But at the same time, we as elected leaders of the State of Israel must take greater care to ensure the emotional and physical safety, and wellbeing, of our brethren who still choose to live outside the borders of the Jewish state.

Such restraint does not come easily for us. Like all Israelis, we were raised in the Zionist ethos and with the understanding that our generation has been blessed with the opportunity to live in the first sovereign Jewish state in two millennia. Through our educational system, and for many of us from hearing the firsthand testimonies of those far too few survivors of the Holocaust, we are keenly aware of the horrors that befell our people when the State of Israel did not exist to defend the Jewish people.  

Throughout its existence, the State of Israel went to great lengths to bring the Jews of the world home to safety. One of the first laws the Knesset legislated was the Law of Return, which ensures that every Jew has the opportunity to become a full-fledged Israeli citizen. The wave of Russian immigrants that came to Israel with the fall of the Soviet Union was a dream come true for so many of us. On many occasions, we initiated special missions like operations Magic Carpet, Moses, and Solomon to bring Jews in danger home to Israel. Even today, together with Jewish organizational partners, we are hard at work extracting the Jews of Ukraine from danger and helping them move to Israel.