Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on January 13, 2015

MILAN The killing of four French Jews in last weeks hostage standoff at a Paris kosher market has deepened the fears among European Jewish communities shaken by rising anti-Semitism and feeling vulnerable due to poor security and a large number of potential soft targets.

In the wake of the attacks, which follow deadly strikes on a Belgian Jewish Museum and a Jewish school in southwestern France, Israeli leaders have called on European Jews to immigrate to the Jewish state. But European Jews are deeply ambivalent about leaving, and their community leaders, along with top politicians, have urged people to stay in their homelands.

The European Jewry is the oldest European minority and we have our experience of surviving under all possible circumstances, Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress, told The Associated Press. We will not give up our motherland, which is called Europe. We will not stop the history of European Jewry, that is for sure.

Kantor called for increased security at Jewish sites, concerted action against anti-Semitism across the continent and better co-ordination of intelligence forces against religious extremism. But he acknowledged that if any Jewish European does not feel safe, I say you should leave in this case.

Many French Jews already are. Last year, 7,000 emigrated to Israel as anti-Semitism spiked across France, fed by tensions with the countrys large Arab population after the outbreak of Israels war against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip. That was double the previous year, making France, for the first time, the No. 1 source of immigration to Israel, according to the Jewish Agency, a non-profit group that works closely with the government to help bring Jews to Israel.

Officials in Israel are expecting and encouraging a new influx following the Paris standoff. Since last weeks attacks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has encouraged European Jews to move to the Jewish state.

You have the full right to live in safety and tranquility as citizens with equal rights wherever you wish, including here in France, Netanyahu said at the Great Synagogue of Paris late Sunday, where he got a heros welcome.

But Jews of our time have been blessed with another right, a right that did not exist for previous generations of Jews: the right to join their Jewish brothers and sisters in our historic homeland. Any Jew who wishes to immigrate to Israel will be welcomed with open arms and warm and accepting hearts.

In an interview with Israels Channel 10 TV Saturday, Johan Dume, one of the hostages who hid inside a freezer at the kosher market for five hours during the hostage-taking, said he would now move his family of four children to Israel.

We are not going to wait around here to die, he said.

Go here to read the rest:

Europes Jews ponder moving to Israel

Category: Synagogue
Tags: