Paris/Aleteia (aleteia.org/ar)- A number of French Jews have left France in order to join ISIS in Syria, according to what French officials said on Monday.
The website, Times of Israel, said that this disclosure comes after a report was published last Friday discussing a young Jewish girl who was among 100 girls and woman who left France to join Jihadists in Syria in recent months.
A French official said to the Israeli Channel Two, “There are more than 1,000 French citizens fighting for ISIS, among them are people with a Jewish background according to the intelligence information that we have. Some of them have embraced Islam. However, it is important to note that they are a very small minority of those who have gone."
The French official stated that his country is looking into how to take steps to combat the phenomenon of its citizens going to Syria and joining ISIS. Among those steps is revoking their citizenships. He added that French intelligence agencies are working hard to locate these individuals.
He further mentioned that, “We are not looking into a particular person’s religion, but into their nationality. However, according to the intelligence information that we currently have, most of these French nationals are not a part of the Jewish community and have lived secular lives." He added that the information they do have is still under investigation.
According to Channel Two, Meyer Habib, a Jewish member of the French Parliament, said that “this is a national dialogue in France and we shouldn’t be spreading rumors until we have conclusive evidence that this is happening.” He added that the Interior Ministry is attempting to ascertain the whereabouts of the girls and their families, “including the family of the Jewish girl.”
He added, “I don’t understand why a Jewish girl would want to join ISIS. It may be that she is part Muslim,” adding that “if a Jewish girl really traveled to Syria with the objective of joining the Jihad, then this is the end of the world and the problem is far more complicated that we can imagine.”
This article was originally published on the 16 October in Aleteia’s Arabic edition. Translated by Donald Puhlman.
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