Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is strongly urging Jews in Europe to consider moving to Israel in the wake of two terror attacks in Copenhagen, Denmark Saturday — one of which occurred right outside of a synagogue.
“Israel is your home. We are preparing and calling for the absorption of mass immigration from Europe,” Netanyahu declared in a Sunday statement, Agence France-Presse reports.
A gunman opened fire Saturday night on individuals congregating outside of Copenhagen’s main synagogue. The shooting left one Jewish man dead and two policemen wounded. The shooting occurred only a few hours after the same gunman opened fire on an free speech event organized by a cartoonist wanted dead by Muslim extremists for drawing Muhammad.
The first attack resulted in the death of a 55-year-old man attending the event that was designed to discuss on the relationship between Islam and free speech.
Danish police later killed the suspected gunman in a firefight early Sunday morning. According to Reuters, he was a Danish-born man with a prior criminal record and was known to intelligence services. However, they did not release his name.
As Netanyahu mentions in his Sunday statement, this only the latest example of violence directed against Jews in Europe.
“Extremist Islamic terrorism has struck Europe again… Jews have been murdered again on European soil only because they were Jews,” the Israeli prime minister said.
In January, a Paris kosher deli served as the grisly scene for a fatal hostage situation that left four Jewish individuals dead. The attack, which was connected to the Charlie Hebdo massacre, was committed by a Muslim radical who claimed allegiance to ISIS.
In May, a gunman with ties to jihadis in Syria killed three people — including an Israeli couple — outside of a Jewish museum in Brussels, Belgium.
With these events in mind, Netanyahu called for his government to approve a $45 million plan to help Israel take in immigrants from France, Belgium and Ukraine.
“To the Jews of Europe and to the Jews of the world I say that Israel is waiting for you with open arms.”