Foreign Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionist Party, RZP) met with heads of Jewish organizations in France on Tuesday night and discussed with them a range of issues regarding Jewish life in the republic.
earlier on tuesday jerusalem post informed of The presidents of three major Jewish organizations in France were boycotting Israel’s finance minister and would not attend the meeting – hours before it was to take place. The presidents of CRIF (the umbrella organization of French Jews), Consistoire Centrale (representing French Orthodox Jewish communities) and FSJU (Unified Jewish Social Fund) did not attend the meeting, which was organized at the request of Smotrich’s office and was held in Paris. In coordination with the Embassy. Yet sources in two major Jewish organizations told Post After a two-and-a-half-hour meeting, he said that “French Jewish organizations are not boycotting Smotrich, but the invitation from his staff came only a week earlier and so many presidents were not able to attend. They made sure that their representatives were at the meeting.” Will be.”
CRIF’s representative was Ariel Amar, a member of the executive committee. One of the organizers of the meeting was Ari Abitbol, director of the mission of the Jewish Agency in Europe. Other leaders attending were Zvi Ammar, president of the Consistory in Marseille; Isaac Barchicht, deputy mayor of Saint-Bris; Henri Cukirman, President of the France-Israel Chamber of Commerce; Dr. Joël Mergui – President of the Consistory of the Paris Region; Rabbis and heads of other organizations.
Smotrich tweeted about the meeting Tuesday night, saying he “had a meeting this evening with representatives of Jewish communities and organizations [in France]: CRIF, Consistoire, KKL-JNF, Jewish Agency, rabbis of the communities and others. He said the purpose of the meeting was to “discuss relations between the Jewish communities in Israel and France, the challenges the communities face and Israel’s role.” [in assisting them] And strengthening Aliyah from France to Israel,” he wrote and tagged Aliyah and Integration Minister Ofir Sofer, who is a member of his party.
In the evening I had a meeting with representatives of Jewish communities and organizations – Kreff, Consistory, KKL-Junk, Agency, rabbis of communities and others – to discuss relations between Israel and Jewish communities in France, the challenges of the communities and The role of the state, and the strengthening of immigration from France to Israel under the leadership of my friend the Minister of Absorption @ofir_sofer, pic.twitter.com/KeSBUrixYc
— Bezael Smotrich (@bezaalelsm) June 6, 2023
discussed during the meeting
According to the statement, Smotrich said that “the Diaspora jury’s ties to the State of Israel are strong and deep.”
One of the participants in the meeting told Post that Smotrich shared his thoughts about the COVID-19 pandemic and the fact that Jews who were not Israeli citizens could not enter Israel for months at a time. “The minister said that he would like to apologize for the fact that Israel was not open to him and that he now understands that this type of policy harms relations between Diaspora Jews and Israel,” the participant reported. Post,
During the pandemic, families were torn apart and israel was closed for a long time. This particularly affected the French Jewish community, the third largest Jewish community in the world, as many of its members travel to Israel several times a year to visit their families or on business. There were also issues regarding the burial of French Jews in Israel during the pandemic.
During the meeting, the participants raised issues like the state of Aaliyah to Israel and the difficulties that professionals in the medical field from France face when attempting to immigrate to Israel.
Smotrich arrived in Paris to attend the OECD’s two-day ministerial meeting, the organisation’s senior annual event. The OECD conference begins on Wednesday morning.
Rina Bassist contributed to this report.