Khalifa Hag also said many friends she had known for years in France ended their relationships with her following the October 7 attacks.
By Shula Rosen
French-born actress Virginie Khalifa Hag, who appears in Season 5 of the Israeli series “Fauda,” has urged Jews in France to prepare to leave the country, describing personal experiences that she says show they are no longer safe there.
Khalifa Hag, 40, was raised in Paris and made aliya 13 years ago. She now lives near Israel’s northern border with Lebanon and plays Amal, a terrorist, in the fifth season of “Fauda.”
“What’s happening in France is insane, but the writing was on the wall,” she said. “This is not the country I grew up in. My late father always told me, ‘We grew up in Algeria. We’re not afraid.’ But today, Jews are afraid. Paris is burning. It’s really an intifada.”
Khalifa Hag said her own family had been affected by violence in Paris.
“My mother manages a shop on a small street near the Champs-Élysées,” Khalifa Hag told Ynet. “The shop owner insisted on opening as usual. Fairly early on, it became clear that things were getting bad, with rioting and violence. Suddenly, Free Palestine flags appeared as well.”
Her mother remained inside until she believed she could safely leave.
“She practically hid in the store, quietly closed up and walked to a Metro station farther away, just to avoid all the chaos, with people destroying, burning and smashing everything.”
Khalifa Hag also said many friends she had known for years in France ended their relationships with her following the October 7 attacks.
Asked what French Jews should do, she advised them to make preparations to leave.
“Be prepared to leave, because you won’t be safe in France anymore,” she said. “A lot of people are already buying apartments here, just in case.”
Khalifa Hag did not, however, call on all French Jews to relocate immediately to Israel, pointing to the practical difficulties facing families without employment.
“Would I tell everyone to come here? I don’t know,” she said. “I’m lucky. I have a job and I have my husband. But for someone arriving with a family and without work, it’s difficult.”
Her career has included work as a TV host, director, visual artist and freelance journalist reporting from Tel Aviv. She has worked with i24NEWS, Arte and Direct 8 and runs the digital creative agency Delicate Genius.
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