The riots in France have prompted predictable reactions in Israel. Some are expressing concern over the images emerging from Paris, Lille and Marseille, while others can barely conceal their satisfaction at the crisis engulfing one of Europe's most vocal critics of Israel.
But instead of sitting back and watching Europe burn, Israel should be focused on one question: How can the French crisis be turned into a historic opportunity for Israel?
France is home to approximately half a million Jews, the largest Jewish community in Europe and one of the most important in the world. It is a well-established community with deep ties to Israel. Yet in recent years, the reality surrounding it has been changing.
Antisemitism, growing fears for personal safety, social tensions and political instability are forcing many Jewish families to confront questions that once seemed unthinkable. The events of recent days are yet another manifestation of France's increasingly troubled reality.
Not all French Jews want to leave their homeland, and not every crisis in France will translate into aliyah to Israel. That is precisely why Israel needs a proactive policy. Historic windows of opportunity do not open only when hundreds of thousands of people have packed their bags and are waiting to board planes. They open when circumstances emerge that may prompt people to reconsider their future. The question is who will recognize the momentum and act in time. Israel can begin building a process today that could ultimately bring at least 200,000 Jews from France to Israel.
About a year ago, Israel Hayom set a national goal: bringing 1 million Jews to Israel over the next decade. The "11th Million" initiative is more than a Zionist dream. It is a strategic response to a series of challenges confronting the State of Israel, including demographic, economic, social and security challenges. Immigration on this scale would change the course of Israel's history.
A persistent strategic failure
Once again, the government appears unable to grasp the magnitude of the moment, preferring a passive approach over a proactive one. Rather than treating aliyah as a national priority of the highest order, it continues to manage immigration largely as the responsibility of individual government ministries.
Instead of actively working to bring immigrants, or olim, to Israel, the government focuses primarily on absorbing those who have already decided to come. Rather than mobilizing a coordinated national effort led by the prime minister, it leaves the task scattered among agencies and ministries, each operating within its own authority and budget. Here, too, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has failed to wake up to the challenge.
This is a persistent strategic failure. A country that once managed to absorb nearly 1 million immigrants in less than a decade, when it was considerably smaller and poorer, now struggles to mount a comparable national effort. Not because it lacks the resources, but because it has failed to recognize the scale of the opportunity. France can and should be the place where Israel breaks this pattern.
The day after the elections, the Israeli government must announce a focused, six-month national campaign to encourage aliyah from France. Not another series of isolated immigration fairs or routine activities by immigrant absorption agencies, but an extraordinary, coordinated effort with defined targets, dedicated resources and clear deadlines.
The campaign should aim to bring tens of thousands of French Jews to Israel over the coming years, while establishing practical immigration pathways for thousands of families within its first few months. The key to the campaign's success lies not only with government ministries or national institutions. To a considerable extent, it also lies with Israeli employers.
Israel's business leaders must step up
Israel desperately needs skilled workers. Hospitals need doctors and nurses, technology companies need engineers, manufacturers need skilled tradespeople, and transportation companies need bus drivers. The shortage is not confined to the high-tech sector or prestigious professions. It is felt across almost every area of daily life, undermining economic productivity and the quality of services provided to the public.
France is home to many Jews who could help meet some of these needs. But contrary to the conventional approach, there is no reason to wait until they decide to immigrate to Israel before trying to integrate them into the workforce. The process should be reversed: Offer them jobs in Israel, career prospects and financial security, turning the prospect of aliyah from a distant possibility into a practical plan for their lives.
Achieving this will require the active participation of Israel's business leaders. Banks, insurance companies, hospitals, manufacturers, technology firms, retail chains and transportation companies should go to France and recruit employees. They should offer employment contracts, assist with training and professional retraining, and take part in a broader effort to enable families to relocate their lives to Israel.
This is not philanthropy. It is a clear economic interest that also carries Zionist and national significance of the highest order. An Israeli employer recruiting workers in France is not merely solving a staffing problem. That employer is helping build the future strength of the State of Israel.
Remove the barriers
The State of Israel must eliminate bureaucratic obstacles, accelerate the recognition of professional licenses and qualifications, provide assistance with housing and education, and ensure that new immigrants can integrate into Israeli society as quickly as possible.
The Jewish Agency for Israel and other national institutions must be central partners in this effort. But even without a government initiative on the necessary scale, the business sector must once again shoulder its share of the national burden and take the lead.
Efforts to encourage aliyah are already underway in France, including employment fairs attended by Israeli employers. But there is an enormous difference between isolated initiatives and a full-scale national campaign. The question is not whether Israel can bring in a few hundred or a few thousand additional immigrants. It is whether the country can set itself an ambitious goal, mobilize all its institutions behind it and take the steps necessary to achieve it.
France is only the first test case. Success in such a campaign would provide a model that could subsequently be expanded to Britain, Canada, Australia, Argentina, Germany, Russia and other countries with significant Jewish communities. Each presents different challenges, but the underlying principle should remain the same: a shift from a policy that waits for immigrants to arrive to one that actively encourages and facilitates aliyah.
Thirty-five years ago, Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir understood that the great wave of immigration from the Soviet Union was not merely an absorption challenge, but a historic opportunity to transform Israel. A country of 5 million people mobilized for a mission that seemed almost impossible and, within just a few years, changed its future. In time, that national effort helped lay the foundations for Israel's emergence as the "Startup Nation."
Israel today is stronger, wealthier and more developed than it was in the 1990s. There is no reason it cannot undertake a similar mission. But doing so requires leadership capable of looking beyond the events of the day, understanding the historic forces at work and turning opportunities into action.
