FRENCH OLIM CONTINUE TO DECREASE
WHEN AMEDY Coulibaly took hostages at the Hyper Cacher store on January 9, 2015, France was still reeling from a series of attacks that began at the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo two days earlier.
A total of 17 people were killed in the four shooting attacks. The assailants — Coulibaly, Chérif Kouachi and Saïd Kouachi — were shot dead by police.
The events were followed in November 2015 by more attacks in Paris, where suicide bombers struck outside the Stade de France and gunman staged a mass shooting at the Bataclan theatre. 130 people died.
It contributed to a sharp rise in the number of French Jews making aliyah, peaking at 5,202 olim in 2016. But the trend later reversed: the Jewish Agency reported only 2,660 made aliyah last year.
MICHAEL DAVENTRY