Dozens of French Jews have left the French capital city of Paris to make aliyah (return to Israel as homeland) even as the city remains on high alert and the hunt for the terrorists is underway.
A group of 40 French Jews that reached Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport on Monday joined a group of six who had arrived on Sunday, making them the first immigrants since the attack, said a Jewish Agency spokesman.
According to Avi Mayer, the Jewish Agency's Spokesman to the International Media, dozens more immigrants are expected to arrive in Israel with the assistance of the Agency over the course of the week.
"After the attacks, people tried not to leave their homes – it was scary," said Daniel Ventura, who arrived in Israel with his wife and two young girls, according to a press release by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, which also assisted in bringing some of the Jewish immigrants. "For two years we've lived with insecurity and wanted to make aliyah. I would not want my children to live, learn and get married in France."
More than 6,000 Jews have made aliyah to Israel since the beginning of the year, Mayer was cited as saying by the Times of Israel.
In January this year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had invited French Jews to migrate to Israel when he visited the Paris Grande Synagogue soon after the Charlie Hebdo terror attacks.
The Jews in France and some parts of Europe are worried over the increasing distrust between Europe and Israel. One obvious example was when the Israel's Foreign Ministry summoned the Swedish ambassador in Jerusalem Carl Magnus Nesser on Monday to discuss a statement which may or may not been have been made by Sweden's Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom.
Wallstrom, when asked on Swedish television "How worried are you about the radicalization of young people in Sweden who are fighting for ISIS?" is said to have replied, according to the translation provided by Israel's Foreign Ministry, "Obviously, we have reason to be worried, not just in Sweden but across the world, because there are so many that are being radicalized. Here, once again, we are brought back to situations like the one in the Middle East, where not least, the Palestinians see that there isn't a future. We must either accept a desperate situation or resort to violence."
Israel's Foreign Ministry also expressed strong displeasure at Sweden's general policy when it comes to Israel.