Exodus: 5,000 Jews Quit France For Israel After Terror Attacks

Terrorist attacks have prompted another 5,000 Jews to leave France for Israel, the latest figures have revealed.

The exodus is part of a wider trend that has seen tens of thousands quit the country after a series of attacks aimed at their community.

A Jewish man mourns the deaths of four Jews killed in Paris.Reuters

The 5,000 departures in 2016 add to the record 7,900 who left in 2015 and 7,231 in 2014. In total, 40,000 French Jews have emigrated since 2006, according to figures seen by AFP.

The Jewish Agency of Israel released the figures as France marked two years since the attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine offices and a Jewish supermarket in Paris.

Daniel Benhaim, head of the Israeli-backed group, said terrorism had been the "catalyst" for the emigration. But other experts insisted other reasons including family, religious and economic pressures led to people leaving for Israel.

The Jewish community in France is thought to be the largest in Europe, numbering around 500,000.

Four were killed by the gunman Amedy Coulibaly in the Jewish Hyper Cacher supermarket in eastern Paris on the same day 12 were killed at the Charlie Hebdo magazine.

It followed another antisemitic attack a shooting in a Jewish school in Toulouse in 2012 and the kidnapping and murder of a young Jewish man, Ilan Halimi, in Paris in 2006.