French-Israeli political analyst Dan Vitenberg. Photo: Facebook.

Though Friday night’s terrorist attacks in Paris were not directed specifically at the Jewish community, they will have a direct impact on French Jews, according to a French-Israeli political analyst.

Dan (Jerome) Vitenberg, who was in Paris at the time of the attacks — but not in the area where they took place — told The Algemeiner on Saturday that terrorism in France is a double-edged sword for the Jews.

On the one hand, he said, “Socially, French Jews can now expect more solidarity on the part of non-Jews in France. Until now, French army patrols in the cities indicated a Jewish presence in the area. This will no longer be the case. This weekend erased the singling-out of the Jewish community as a sole target. Friday night’s tragedy integrated all the French communities blindly hit by terror, as one.”

To illustrate, he cited a commentator on national network BFMTV, who said on Friday night that the attacks constituted “a wake-up call for all French communities, not only the Jewish one.”

On the other hand, Vitenberg said, “As the French people realize that their safety isn’t guaranteed at home, a growing number will trust far-Right Marine Le Pen [who has been associated with antisemitic views] and her National Front Party to make order out of the chaos left by the moderate Left and Right — something which is not at all reassuring to most French Jews. And more of those who can afford to do so will seek to leave France for other countries, not only Israel.”

In other words, concluded Vitenberg, “the future of the Jews in France – like that of the non-Jews – is not so bright.”