Netanyahu to French, European Jews after Paris attacks: Israel is your home
The following article by Tovah Lazaroff appeared in The Jerusalem Post, and does not necessarily reflect the position of True Torah Jews.
http://m.jpost.com/HomePage/FrontPage/Article.aspx?id=387309
The France attacks could be the start of a new wave of worldwide terrorism, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Saturday night as he promised French Jews they had a home in Israel.
Netanyahu spoke to the media as he prepared to fly to Paris Sunday to join world leaders in a mass solidarity vigil to mourn 17 terror victims killed in France last week, including four Jews who died Friday during an attack on a kosher supermarket in the capital.
“These attacks in Paris are the continuation of extremist Islam’s war against our free civilization in the West, in the entire modern world and also in the moderate Arab states,” Netanyahu said.
“But if we ignore the true root of the problem, if we ignore the fact that extremist Islamic terrorism seeks to exterminate Western civilization as a whole, including the Jewish people – if we ignore this, what we are now seeing in Paris will be only the beginning.
These are not frightening words or prophecies of rage, this is the simple reality and the time has come to recognize it,” Netanyahu said.
To the Jews of France he said: “The State of Israel is not just the place to which you turn in prayer. The State of Israel is also your home. This week, a special team of ministers will convene to advance steps to increase immigration from France and other countries in Europe that are suffering from terrible anti-Semitism. All Jews who want to immigrate to Israel will be welcomed here warmly and with open arms. We will help you in your absorption here in our country, which is also your country.”
Netanyahu is among many world leaders heading to Paris.
Those expected to attend Sunday’s solidarity vigil include Germany’s Angela Merkel, Britain’s David Cameron, Italy’s Matteo Renzi, Arab League representatives and some Muslim African leaders, as well as Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, Economic Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett and, on behalf of the Knesset, former Shas chairman Eli Yishai also will attend the vigil to mark the worst assault on France’s homeland security in decades.
The three days of violence began with an attack on the Charlie Hebdo weekly on Wednesday and ended with Friday’s dual sieges at a print works outside Paris and a kosher supermarket in the city.
Netanyahu said he had spoken by telephone on Saturday with Celine Shreki, a hostage in the supermarket.
“She is recovering,” he said.
“She told me about the terrorist’s inconceivable cruelty and of the heroism of the young Jewish man who attempted to seize his weapon and shoot him; he was shot by the terrorist and died about 45 minutes later.”
The prime minister expressed his sorrow for the murdered French citizens, journalists and police officers.
“Our brothers and sisters in the French Jewish community, we grieve with you over the terrible loss. I would like to send condolences to the families of Yoav Hattab, Philippe Braham, Yohan Cohen and Francois-Michel Saada,” Netanyahu said.
Immediately after hearing of the supermarket attack on Friday, Netanyahu held a conference call with Liberman, Foreign Ministry Director- General Nissim Ben-Shitrit, Mossad director Tamir Pardo and National Security Adviser Yossi Cohen. After the meeting, Netanyahu instructed that all possible assistance be granted to the French authorities and that security directives be underscored at Israeli missions and Jewish institutions.
On Friday night, Netanyahu spoke with French President Francois Hollande and assured him that “the entire people of Israel are with you.
Our hearts are with the families of the victims.”
Netanyahu offered France any Israeli assistance it needed and asked Hollande in turn to heighten security at Jewish institutions.
When he spoke with French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, Netanyahu said it was important to cut off financing for extremist Islamic terrorist organizations and to take action against incitement in Europe.
“It is also essential to take action against countries that give support, shelter and passage to terrorism,” he said.
Netanyahu also spoke with Roger Cukierman, president of the Conseil Représentatif des Institutions Juives de France (CRIF), the umbrella organization for French Jewry, and French National Assembly member Meyer Habib.
Opposition leader Isaac Herzog, who will not fly to France, said “every terrorist around the world must know that whoever harms a Jew due to his religion, Israel will demand his head.”
Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid said the events in France broke his heart, adding that Europeans were realizing that terror must be handled with determination and without compromise.
Shas leader Arye Deri called on French Jews to make aliya, saying they would be received in Israel with love.
Liberman also urged French Jews to immigrate.
“I have no doubt that the best security is aliya to Israel,” he told Channel 2.
Our comment:
In the immediate aftermath of the brutal attacks in France, with our hearts aching from the pain of our losses, Netanyahu is dancing on Jewish blood and audaciously calling upon Jews in France and the rest of Europe to emigrate to the State of Israel. One could almost feel the pleasure of the Zionist leaders at the news of another attack against Jews. They hope that this will finally bring them the results they want: a massive wave of new immigrants to their state.
The Zionist dream, from Herzl till today, has always been that anti-Semitism would force Jews out of their home countries and to their state. These Jews are pawns in the Zionist game. To Zionism, Jewish lives are only worth worrying about if they can contribute somehow to the Zionist agenda. Jews in other countries whom they don't feel they can use in any way are added to their immigration list - their list of countries which must be emptied of Jews.
In past decades, the Zionists have succeeded in making most of the Middle East, as well as North Africa, virtually empty of Jews. In many cases they deliberately fomented riots to give Jews an extra push to leave.
For the last decade, France has unfortunately been on that blacklist, starting with Ariel Sharon's 2003 call for all of France's Jews to make "aliyah." The Zionists have long followed a policy of fabricating anti-Semitic incidents in France when there were none, or exaggerating actual incidents, in order to create an atmosphere of fear and panic.
So now that this horrific tragedy has taken place and four precious Jewish lives have been cruelly extinguished, may G-d spare us, the Zionists have pounced on the opportunity to declare that "Israel is the home of French Jewry". They are hoping that perhaps, finally they have won the battle.
Furthermore, Netanyahu's words are timed to embarrass France, a country that has been kind and hospitable to Jews for decades, and has tried with all means at its disposal to protect its Jewish citizens. France today is home to 500,000 Jews. The current calls for a mass exodus is unbelievable impudence and thanklessness.
In Haaretz it was reported that French President Francois Hollande asked Netanyahu not to attend the Paris memorial march, as part of an attempt to keep the Israeli-Palestinian conflict out of the European show of unity. But Netanyahu and other hardliners politicians came running to Sunday's march anyway and made a high-profile visit to a synagogue, knowing full well that this would draw a public connection between French Jews and his provocative activities - further endangering French Jews.
Terrorists, by targeting Jews, are playing directly into the hands of Zionism. They are in effect encouraging Jews to go to the State of Israel, where they are often placed in settlements due to lack of housing.
Jews of Europe! Beware of the Zionist trap! Do you want your local community to become history? Do you want it join the long list of Jewish communities that the Zionists succeeded in emptying out - communities where Jews once lived and prospered alongside their neighbors? Do you want to fall victim to the dangerous Zionist plan to gather all Jews to one place? Do you want all the eggs in one basket, a basket full of holes, a basket that was established against the command of G-d?
We have to think hard and find ways to overcome the mighty Zionist propaganda machine, in order to make clear to the world that we have no connection with the State of Israel or Zionism, that Netanyahu doesn't speak for us, and he is not our friend. We are French Jews, Belgian Jews, German Jews, American Jews. The State of Israel is not our country.
It is noteworthy that even one of the Israeli politicians, Jewish agency chairman Natan Sharansky, recognized that the call for immigration might be seen as capitalizing on the tragedy. "Jerusalem must carefully calibrate its aliya message to French Jews, on the one hand welcoming them, but on the other not seeming to be 'dancing on the blood' and forging an alliance with anti-Semitism," Sharansky said Sunday on his way to Paris.
Sharansky said it was “a mistake and not smart” to say to French Jews “immigrate now,” adding that it was also “insulting” to the French. When Ariel Sharon made such a comment in 2003, it triggered a mini-crisis with then French President Jacques Chirac, and Sharon was forced to backtrack.
“I really believe that anti-Semitism is not our ally, and we do not have to act as if it is,” Sharansky said.
We ask the presidents and leaders of all countries who wish to protect their Jewish citizens to help us make our message heard, because that is the only way Jews can live securely in all their communities around the world.