Over the past few days, news reports in France have been opening with a stunning statistic. According to current data, 1% of France’s Jewish population will immigrate to Israel this year. The total by year end is expected to reach 5,500 emigrants. This extraordinary number reflects growing fears among Jewish parents raised by reports about European jihadists, such as Mehdi Nemmouche, the Frenchman who attacked the Jewish Museum in Brussels in May 2014. It seems that many of these jihadists have adopted Mohammed Merah as their proclaimed hero, the man who murdered three children in an attack on a Jewish school in Toulouse in 2012.

The new immigrants to Israel are fully aware that the French authorities are taking action against any and all manifestations of anti-Semitism and that they condemn anti-Semitism vociferously. At the same time, however, these immigrants also know that the authorities cannot protect every Jewish child. Merah and Nemmouche personify a combination of hatred of Israel and classic anti-Semitism. This vile combination is once again making Europe an uneasy place for Jews.

Contributing to this foul quagmire are certain elements of the far left intelligentsia, along with those for whom it is fashionable to be an anti-Semite. They are joined by young hotheads who cannot distinguish between acts committed by the State of Israel and Jewish communities that have lived in the Diaspora for more than 2,000 years. It should be noted that this old Diaspora consists of Jews who support Israeli policies, others who oppose them, and yet others who are apathetic toward anything that happens outside the country in which they live.

The most unfortunate link connecting Israeli actions with the Diaspora, however, is provided by senior Israeli officials, who blur any distinction between protests against their policies and hatred of the Jewish people. Not every Jew around the world supports Israel's occupation policy. Many Jews in Israel as well as the Diaspora have expressed reservations about Israel’s disproportionate response against Gaza’s civilian population in the last war.