On a visit to France Sunday, Economics Minister Naftali Bennett urged Jews still living in the country to come to Israel. “Just this week we saw what hatred of Israel looks like,” Bennett told a crowd in Paris. “
Our enemies fire rockets at our children and we defend ourselves, and then they get on the podium in the UN and accuse us of genocide,” Bennett said, referring to a speech given by Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas. “We say clearly that we will no longer allow Jews to remain defenseless, that no Jew will be afraid to walk the streets,” he said.
Bennett arrived in France after several recent violent incidents against Jews in France. The most serious incident was an attempt by a Muslim mob to break into a synagogue in Paris in July. Muslim rioters surrounded Don Yitzchak Abarbanel Synagogue in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, and threw rocks into the house of worship. Large scale police forces were called to extricate the Jews.
Bennett participated in an event in the synagogue, and is set to meet with community leaders and government officials, among them Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, with whom he will discuss security issues affecting French Jews.
“With this visit, we express our connection to our brothers in France and all of Europe,” said Bennett. “If others will not be here to defend you, the State of Israel will always be by the side of all Jews, whoever and wherever they are,” Bennett added.
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