Germany said on Monday it wants Jews to stay and promised to ensure their security following a deadly attack on a Danish synagogue and calls from Israel for European Jews to emigrate.
Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany was “glad and also grateful” to have a Jewish community, when asked about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s renewed appeal following Sunday’s attack in Copenhagen.
The German government and other officials will do everything possible to ensure the safety of Jewish institutions and citizens in Germany, Merkel told reporters after Sunday’s election in the northern city-state of Hamburg.
“We’d like to go on living well together with the Jews who are in Germany today,” the chancellor added.
A German foreign ministry spokeswoman had a similar message, saying “We want to do everything so that Jews stay here in Germany and so that they feel well and safe. “Netanyahu on Sunday urged European Jews to immigrate to Israel after a Jewish man was killed in the attack outside Copenhagen’s main synagogue, relaunching a call he made after attacks in Paris last month that left four Jews dead.
French President Francois Hollande said on Monday that Jews were welcome in Europe and France, while his Prime Minister Manuel Valls said he “regretted “Netanyahu’s remarks.
French authorities also reported on Sunday that 300 Jewish tombs had been defaced in the village of Montry in northeast France.
At an event commemorating the 70th anniversary of the liberation of death camp Auschwitz, Merkel said it was a “disgrace” that Jews in Germany faced insults, threats or violence. More than 100,000 Jews make their home in Germany, she noted.
