"Universal Israelite Alliance") is a Paris-based international Jewish organization founded in 1860 with the purpose of safeguarding human rights for Jews around the world.

The organization is noted for establishing French-language schools for Jewish children throughout the Mediterranean, Iran, and the former Ottoman Empire in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

[1] In 1860, Alliance Israelite Universelle embarked on a "mission civilisatrice" to advance the Jews of the Middle East through French education and culture.

[3] It was founded by Jules Carvallo, Isidore Cahen [fr], Narcisse Leven (secretary of Adolphe Crémieux), Élie-Aristide Astruc, and Eugène Manuel May 1860 in Paris,[4][5] and opened its first school in Tétouan, Morocco in 1862.

As outlined in its prospectus, the program of the society included the emancipation of the Jews from oppressive and discriminating laws, political disabilities, and defense of them in those countries where they were subjected to persecution.

[4] For the attainment of its objectives, the society proposed to carry on a campaign of education through the press and by the publication of works on the history and life of the Jews.

In the beginning, however, the course of action adopted by the society for bringing relief to their oppressed brethren in other countries was to secure the intercession of friendly governments on their behalf.

Thus, as early as 1867 the governments of France, Italy, Belgium, and the Netherlands made the renewal of existing treaties with Switzerland conditional upon that country's granting full civil and political rights to the Jews.

[citation needed] Alliance israélite universelle continues to operate dozens of schools and educational programs in Israel today.

[18] When French-medium schools operated by Alliance Israélite Universelle opened in the 1860s, the position of Judaeo-Spanish (Ladino) began to weaken in the Ottoman Empire areas.

[21] Literacy and skilled training provided an opportunity for upward social mobility, especially to Jewish girls of underprivileged backgrounds who could not attain an education previously.

[21] Many North African women were also educated and trained as AIU teachers in France, returning thereafter to their countries of origin to teach.

The AIU, and more generally, the French colonization of swaths of North Africa, shifted education from the hands of rabbis and religious leaders to secular, European instructors.