Boulogne-Billancourt, the first city in the Ile de France region after Paris, is a dynamic city of 107,000 residents, looking to the future while preserving its artistic and cultural past and its green character. The city, which has a large Jewish community, houses the Maimonides School, a Jewish school with approximately 1000 pupils from kindergarten to twelfth grade. In Raanana’s sister city agreement signed with the city of Boulogne-Billancourt in 1994, it was agreed to develop understanding, mutual respect and friendship between the two peoples and to promote cultural, tourism, social and economic exchanges.
Several municipal exchanges have taken place, including youth exchanges in 1997 and cultural exchanges in 1999 and 2000. In January 2000, an exhibition by the French artist Irene Boisaubert at the Lev Hapark Community Center was opened by the French Ambassador to Israel and representatives from Boulogne-Billancourt.
The Raanana Symphonette Orchestra participated in the Annual Music Festival in Boulogne-Billancourt in Summer 1999, playing several successful concerts and the following year, 50 young musicians from the Conservatoire Nationale de Boulogne-Billancourt were hosted in Raanana. The highlight of the visit was a concert featuring the two orchestras playing together at Yad Labanim, in the presence of the French Ambassador to Israel, M. Jacques Hontzinger, and several dignitaries from the Municipality of Boulogne-Billancourt, including the Deputy Mayor, M. Patrick Quentin.
In June 2001, the Renana Choir gave several concerts in Boulogne-Billancourt. In October 2003, 16 students from the Aviv and Ostrovsky Schools in the French matriculation stream spent a week as guests of Boulogne-Billancourt Municipality and Jewish Community, improving their language skills and developing friends with the Notre Dame School.
Visits from Boulogne-Billancourt to Raanana in the last few years include members of the Jewish community on Israel Independence Day in 2003 and 2005, the Deputy Mayor Pierre-Mathieu Duhamel in June 2004 and city council member Philippe Tellini, accompanied by Deputy Mayor Leon Sebbag in 2006.
In recent years, several families from Boulogne-Billancourt have made aliyah and live in Raanana.
Raanana’s Twin City in France Marks Three Years Since the Kidnapping of Gilad Shalit
Raanana’s twin city in France, Boulogne-Billancourt, recently organized a ceremony to mark the three years since the abduction of IDF soldier, Gilad Shalit (who has French citizenship) and hung up a photo of the captive soldier in the city hall
At a moving ceremony held in the city hall, Mayor Pierre Christophe Bega unveiled the photograph of Shalit. Participating in the ceremony were the president of the city’s Jewish community, Robert Ajnes and dignitaries from the French Jewish community, including the Chief Rabbi of Paris.
Boulogne-Billancourt is a suburb of Paris and boasts 100,000 residents. In 1994, a twin city agreement was signed between the two cities and over the years there have been a number of delegation visits and there have also been performances of Raanana’s youth orchestra and Symphonette in Boulogne-Billancourt.
Mayor Nahum Hofree: “Raanana maintains extensive ties with its friends overseas and I applaud the identification of the Jewish community in France with the struggle to free Gilad Shalit. The Israeli government must make every effort to help bring home the captive soldier, back to his loving family.”
The Raanana Municipality maintains warm and friendly ties with seven twin cities around the world: Opsterland (Holland); Bramsche (Germany); Metro West (New Jersey); Verona (Italy); Tainan (Taiwan); Atlanta (US) and Boulogne-Billancourt (France). It has
also signed a friendship pact with the city of Goslar in Germany.
