The status of the Jewish community in France has a more optimistic future as the new president, Nicolas Sarkozy, begins his administration. The international community is entering a new chapter that aims to foster stronger and friendlier ties with Israel, and aims to bring change and peace to a French Jewish population that is still a victim of anti-Semitism.

Recently, I attended a meeting of the National Council of the Jewish Community in France which focused on the challenges that face the more than 600,000 Jews living in France today and, specifically, the difficulties of assimilation and the severe anti-Semitism that pressures numerous French Jews to consider relocating. In light of the recent election, the cause for relocation may not be as pressing for those who are considering leaving France.

The problems affecting the Jewish population in France today reflect a complicated history of discrimination. After France was invaded by Nazi Germany on May 10, 1940, the country along with the Vichy regime willfully collaborated with Germany to capture and execute Jews, contributing to the more than 76,000 Jewish deaths that were carried out during the Holocaust.

In 1949, after the war, France established diplomatic relations with Israel and initially became the country’s major source of arms, only to declare a total arms embargo on Israel and then to support the Arab position on the eve of the Six-Day War in 1967. France’s consistent anti-Israel stance since the 1967 war, the establishment of the first Palestine Liberation Organization office in Paris and the distressing success of a far right wing nationalist, Jean-Marie Le Pen, have caused great concern.

In the 1970s, serious anti-Semitic incidents in France included the desecration of Jewish cemeteries and monuments. Anti-Semitism was prevalent within France’s national discourse throughout the 1980s and 1990s as the country’s newspapers and political parties, like the National Front, openly endorsed anti-immigration and anti-Semitic views.

Acts of terrorism against Jewish communities remained constant through the late 1990s and as recently as April 7, 2007, the town of Lille witnessed the desecration of its Jewish cemetery.

The increase in crimes toward Jewish communities seems to coincide with an Arab unemployment rate that is a staggering 60%, compared to the French national unemployment rate that is 10%.

The constant threat of terrorism in addition to Franco-American disagreements over Iraq have pressured many Jews to immigrate. In recent years, 3,000 Jews have left France to go to Israel, and 7,000 have immigrated to New York.

France’s Jews do not want to choose between Israel and France — they don’t want a double allegiance. In the same way one cannot choose between a father and a mother, the president of the Jewish community asserted that, they “don’t want to choose between [the patriarch] Abraham and [the matriarch and unofficial symbol of the French Republic] Marianne.”

This gives us hope that Mr. Sarkozy will create a French state in which relations with Israel are not hostile, and will make France a friendly adopted homeland for its immigrant population.

Whether France’s change in government under Mr. Sarkozy will usher in new policies throughout the EU and whether it will affect anti-Semitism in Europe remains to be seen. The future of Jews in Europe depends on what America does in Iran. If the West is successful in stopping Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Jews will be safe in Europe. If not, Jews will continue to be victimized in Europe.

Mr. Sarkozy has said that an Iranian nuclear weapon is unacceptable, and that sanctions must be tightened. Mr. Sarkozy has plans for a quick reform package — pro-market and anti-crime. The people of France have chosen change. His victory speech sketched out a stronger global role for France and a renewed partnership with America.

His close friend, Benjamin Netanyahu, with whom Mr. Sarkozy has been said to share many similar political ideologies, said, “I don’t think one can expect the French policy to change from one end to the other, but it is clear that it will no longer be characterized by reflexive anti-Israelism — a situation in which Israel is guilty until proven innocent.”

Let us hope that Mr. Sarkozy’s mandate for change will initiate a new and promising direction for France.

Ms. Gantz had been on the board of directors of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee for over 16 years.