(JTA) — Thousands of French Jews attended an information fair in Paris about moving to Israel.
Sunday’s fair, organized by the Jewish Agency for Israel in cooperation with the Ministry of Aliyah and Immigrant Absorption and the World Zionist Organization, offered information from representatives of many Israeli organizations and institutions, including government ministries.
The Drancy-based Bureau for National Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism, a watchdog group known as BNVCA, has recorded a spate of anti-Semitic incidents in France in recent weeks, including a violent attack on a Jewish teacher and a knife attack on a Paris rabbi and his son.
Immigration to Israel, or aliyah, from France has risen sharply since the beginning of 2014, with 854 new immigrants arriving in January and February compared to 274 during the previous year, according to the Jewish Agency.
Some 3,280 immigrants from France arrived in Israel in 2013, compared to 1,917 in the previous year.
Earlier this month, the French Jewish community’s watchdog organization, SPCJ, released a report that counted 423 anti-Semitic incidents in France in 2013 — a 31 percent decrease from the previous year, but still higher by 8 percent than the number of incidents recorded in 2011.
