Benjamin Netanyahu has clashed with Denmark's chief rabbi after seizing on the weekend's deadly shootings in Copenhagen to call on European Jews to emigrate en mass to Israel.
Rabbi Jair Melchior said he was "disappointed" by the comments of Mr Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, who made a fresh plea for Jewish emigration while extending condolences to Denmark over the twin attacks. An armed assailant killed a Jewish man guarding Copenhagen's main synagogue at around 1am on Sunday morning, following an earlier incident at a cultural centre hosting a conference on free speech in which another man was shot dead.
"Jews have been murdered again on European soil only because they were Jews and this wave of terrorist attacks – including murderous anti-Semitic attacks – is expected to continue," Mr Netanyahu told the Israeli cabinet, as it met to approve a £30 million scheme to absorb Jewish immigrants from France, Belgium and Ukraine.
"Jews deserve protection in every country but we say to Jews: 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.' ... Israel is waiting for you with open arms." Read on and comment » | Robert Tait, Jerusalem | Sunday, February 15, 2015
