Netanyahu draws fire in Europe for invite to Jews
PARIS -- Despite desecrated Jewish graves in France and a deadly attack at a synagogue in Copenhagen, European leaders on Monday rejected calls from the Israeli prime minister for a mass immigration of the continent's Jews, urging unity instead.
Hundreds of Jewish tombstones were found vandalized in eastern France on Sunday, hours after a Danish Jew guarding a synagogue in Copenhagen was shot to death. Frenchmen have been accused of three deadly attacks on Jewish sites since 2012: one at a school in the southern city of Toulouse, another at a museum in Brussels and finally one at a kosher market last month. Twelve people died in total.
"We know there are doubts, questions across the community," French President Francois Hollande said Monday. "I will not just let what was said in Israel pass, leading people to believe that Jews no longer have a place in Europe and in France in particular."
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls also said Monday that the government would defend French Jews against what he described as "Islamo-fascism."
"A Jew who leaves France is a piece of France that is gone," Valls told RTL radio.
Investigators were questioning five minors, 15 to 17 years old, in connection with the vandalized cemetery in the small town of Sarre-Union, the prosecutor of the eastern Bas-Rhin region told a news conference. One of the five had turned himself in.
All were from the region as were their families, and none had a criminal record of any kind, said Philippe Vannier. The youth can be held for up to 48 hours if required, before they have to be charged or let go.
Of the 400 tombs in the Sarre-Union cemetery, 250 had been vandalized, the prosecutor said.
In 2014, more than 7,000 French Jews in a community estimated at around 500,000 left for Israel, more than double the number for 2013.
And the Israeli Cabinet on Sunday approved a $46 million plan to encourage still more Jewish immigration from France, Belgium and Ukraine.
The exodus from France accelerated after the March 2012 attacks by Mohammed Merah, who stormed a Jewish school in Toulouse, killing three children and a rabbi.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that at a time of rising anti-Semitism in Europe, Israel is the only place where Jews can truly feel safe.
"This wave of attacks is expected to continue," Netanyahu told his Cabinet. "Jews deserve security in every country, but we say to our Jewish brothers and sisters, Israel is your home."
Netanyahu's comments triggered an angry response from Copenhagen's chief rabbi, Jair Melchior, who said he was "disappointed" by them.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday that her government will do everything possible to ensure Jewish sites are secure.
"We are glad and thankful that there is Jewish life in Germany again," Merkel said in Berlin. "And we would like to continue living well together with the Jews who are in Germany today."