Contemplating the increased hostility directed by French Muslims toward their country, and the rise of France’s anti-Muslim National Front, Ben Judah examines the fate of the Jews in a fractured republic:

Can a Jew still live safely in a banlieue [as the poor, immigrant suburbs of Paris are called]? Since 2000, when banlieue anti-Semitism began to flare up alongside the Palestinian intifada, the number of Jewish families in [the banlieue of] Aulnay-sous-Bois fell from 600 to 100, in Le Blanc-Mesnil from 300 to 100, in Clichy-Sous-Bois from 400 to 80, and in La Courneuve from 300 to 80. French Jews call this flight internal aliyah.

This is why they move: in 2014, 51 percent of reported racist incidents in France targeted Jews. On average a Jew is assaulted in France every day. And this means [anti-Semitic violence] touches most families. A recent poll found that 74 percent of Jews who wore traditional skullcaps and 20 percent who didn’t reported being attacked. . . .

[The French pollster Jérôme] Fourquet’s research shows that French Jews are moving from areas run by Communist mayors—twinned with Palestinian camps, where Palestinian war heroes hold honorary citizenship, and regular exhibitions are held on the anniversary of the “Nakba”—to areas where there are right-wing mayors, twinned with Israel. Internal aliyah—not to Israel, or English-speaking countries—is the largest movement of French Jews.

“Yet what we found in our interviews in the Jewish community,” says Fourquet, “was more and more Jews say, there is us [the Jews], them [the Muslims], and you—the ethnic French. Yet again, in our interviews with [French Jews], they talk as if they are canaries in the coalmine. This comes up a lot: [an attitude of] ‘you’ll see it when we’re gone and you’ll be left with them.’ . . . The sense of a common French destiny is vanishing in our surveys.”

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.