Federations raise funds for French Jews, plan Paris trip

Anthony Weiss

(JTA) — The Jewish Federations of North America announced a trip to Paris next month to support victims of the recent terror attacks there.

The trip, announced in a letter sent on Wednesday by JFNA board chair Michael Siegal, will take place in early February. Attendees plan to visit the Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket, the site of a hostage standoff this month that killed four Jewish patrons.

The delegation will meet the families of victims killed in the attacks, as well as with the editor of Charlie Hebdo, the satirical magazine that suffered a terror attack. The delegation will also meet officials from the French government and Jewish community.

In addition, federations are  raising money for a French Terror & Security Fund that will provide financial assistance to the families of the victims of the Charlie Hebdo and Hyper Cacher terror attacks. The fund will also contribute resources for increased aliyah to Israel following the attacks, and for heightened security at Jewish communal institutions in Paris.

World Jewry organizations will provide 20 percent of the Terror and Security Fund, with the French government, philanthropists and French Jewish communal institutions slated to provide the other 80%.