BREAKING NEWS

Israel’s ambassador to Germany urges Jews to make aliya

BERLIN – Israel’s ambassador to Germany, Yakov Hadas-Handelsman, said he “does not envy any Jew living in Europe today” and invited those who feel unsafe in the wake of recent anti-Semitic attacks to “come to [Israel] at any time.”
In an interview published Sunday in the Berlin daily Tagesspiegel, Hadas-Handelsman echoed last week’s invitation by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Jews in Europe “consider Israel your home.”
Germany saw a wave of violent anti-Semitic attacks in 2014, including the torching of the Wuppertal synagogue. A court there, however, agreed with the explanation provided by three German Palestinians that the arson was merely an attempt “to draw attention to the Gaza conflict” and sentenced the men to 200 hours of community service.
Hadas-Handelsman also commended Chancellor Angela Merkel for making it clear that “it is not normal for synagogues and Jewish schools to need police protection.”