Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the shootings in Denmark, including the killing of a guard outside a synagogue, amount to yet another example of why there should be “massive immigration” of European Jews to Israel. “This wave of attacks is expected to continue,” Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet meeting on Sunday, reports Ynet. “Jews deserve security in every country.”
Netanyahu spoke shortly before the cabinet approved a more-than-$46-million plan to encourage immigration and help Jews from France, Belgium, and Ukraine adjust to life in Israel, reports the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “We say to Jews, to our brothers and sisters: Israel is your home. We are preparing and calling for the absorption of mass immigration from Europe. I would like to tell all European Jews and all Jews wherever they are: ‘Israel is the home of every Jew,’ ” Netanyahu said. “To the Jews of Europe and to the Jews of the world I say that Israel is waiting for you with open arms.”
Denmark’s chief rabbi was quick to criticize Netanyahu’s remarks, reports the Telegraph. “Terror is not a reason to move to Israel,” Rabbi Jair Melchior said, adding that he was “disappointed” by Netanyahu’s words. “People from Denmark move to Israel because they love Israel, because of Zionism,” he said. “If the way we deal with terror is to run somewhere else, we should all run to a deserted island.”
Netanyahu had made similar statements after the shootings in Paris.
