In the aftermath of Amedy Coulibaly’s Jan. 9 attack on a kosher supermarket in Paris, the National Post’s editorial “City of darkness” captured the unique threat that France’s Jews have faced for some time: “The forces of Islamism sometimes target Canada and sometimes the U.K., sometimes a downtown cafe and sometimes a media outlet. But sooner or later, they always come after the Jews.”

Acting in affiliation with the Kouachi brothers, who, two days before, executed  journalists and others at the satirical publication Charlie Hebdo, Coulibaly told BFM-TV that his seizure of hostages at that supermarket was no accident: he deliberately targeted a Jewish business and quickly selected four Jewish customers to murder.

In a national address Jan. 9, French President François Hollande denounced the siege of the kosher market as an “anti-Semitic attack.”

Yet, despite Coulibaly’s media statement and Hollande’s characterization of Coulibaly’s assault, it was surprising how many western news outlets ignored these facts and failed to note the centrality of anti-Semitism in Coulibaly’s actions. It was not until the massive rally in Paris on Jan. 11, when many Muslims carried the sign “Je suis Juif,” that mainstream media devoted attention to the French Jewish community who feel under siege.

Islamic extremists have targeted French Jews for quite some time, including rioting against Jews and attacking synagogues during last summer’s Gaza war, and murdering three Jewish schoolchildren and a rabbi in Toulouse in 2012.

On Jan. 5, days before the attacks on Charlie Hebdo and the kosher supermarket, Natan Sharansky, head of the Jewish Agency, told the Jerusalem Post that, in 2014, approximately 50,000 French Jews asked the agency for information about immigrating to Israel.

Last year, about 7,000 Jews left France for Israel, a number representing about 70 per cent of the total number who emigrated from France (and twice as many as the number who immigrated to Israel) in 2013. Others went elsewhere in Europe or to North America with many settling in Montreal.

As the Post reported, “According to a 2013 study of European Jewry by the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency, up to a third of the Jews in several countries [especially Belgium, France and Hungary] are mulling emigration.

Given that there are approximately 600,000 Jews in France – by far the largest Jewish community in Europe – that amounts to a significant number considering emigration. The cultural and psychological impact on France would be enormous. No wonder the French government is stepping up efforts to assure its Jewish citizens about their security.

The rise of anti-Semitism stems not only from the growth of Islamic extremism, but also from the gains of far-right parties including Marine Le Pen’s National Front (even as she decries the anti-Semitism of the party’s former leader, her father), and from Hungary’s Jobbik party, which makes no effort to hide its anti-Jewish sentiment.

Yet, where Islamic extremism in France is concerned, even if manifest in only a tiny percentage of France’s six million Muslims, much must be done to rein it in so that French Jews can indeed be made to feel safe.

To take just one example of the challenge: the liberal Israeli journalist Ben-Dror Yemini wrote in Ynet News just after the first Paris attack of the need to counter not only young jihadists, but also certain Muslim religious leaders embraced by the French establishment who harbour a not-too-hidden agenda. Yemini pointed to Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Qatari-based Muslim Brotherhood spiritual figure famous for, among other things, anti-Semitic diatribes on Al-Jazeera Arabic.

According to Yemini, Dalil Boubakeur, the head of French Muslim establishment wanted Al-Qaradawi to be the honoured guest at a large Muslim convention. The French government, however, wouldn’t allow Qaradawi into the country. “Now, Boubakeur is condemning the [Paris] attack,” said Yemini. “Of course he’s condemning it. But the condemnation is worthless as long as Boubakeur and others oppose any Muslim who dares to speak out against the funding from Qatar and the radicalization.”