JERUSALEM — Israel's prime minister says he will try to increase immigration of French Jews and others in Europe suffering from a "rising tide of anti-Semitism."
Benjamin Netanyahu's comments Saturday came a day after four French Jews were killed inside a kosher market in Paris. Netanyahu said every Jew who wanted to move to Israel would be "welcomed with a warm heart and open arms."
Netanyahu also asked French President Francois Hollande to maintain heightened security at Jewish institutions.
Even before the deadly attack there has been an uptick in French Jewish migration to Israel because of anti-Semitism. Last year, for the first time ever, France topped the immigration list to Israel, according to the quasigovernmental Jewish Agency. Nearly 7,000 new immigrants came in 2014, double the number of the previous year.
