Jews in Europe suffer from rising anti-Semitism

After fatal shootings at a free speech event and a synagogue in Copenhagen on Sunday, some 300 Jewish graves in a cemetery in eastern France were desecrated on Monday, signaling rising anti-Semitism along the lines of the discrimination felt by Muslims in Europe. The damage to the cemetery in the town of Sarre-Union in the Alsace region was described as "a despicable act" by the French interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve.

"The country will not tolerate this new injury that goes against the values that all French people share," he said. "Every effort will be made to identify, question and bring to justice the person or persons responsible for this despicable act." Jewish cemeteries in France have long been a target of anti-Semitic acts. More than 50 graves were wrecked in 2001 in the Alsace region.

Denmark was hit by a scourge of violent extremism against Jews in the country over the weekend. Danes gathered in front of the synagogue on Sunday to pay their respects to the victims laying flowers.

"The rise of anti-Semitism in Europe is a systematic failure of European society," said European Commissioner for Education Tibor Navracsics in a meeting with a delegation of European Jewish leaders addressing the alarming rise of anti-Semitism throughout the continent.

Amid growing security concerns for Jews in Europe, Jewish scholars and European leaders on Monday dismissed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's call for massive Jewish immigration to Israel, urging them not to leave Europe just because of a possible terrorist attack. Netanyahu had made a similar declaration after the violent attack on a kosher market on January 9 in Paris in which four French Jews were killed.

"We are not afraid," Denmark's chief rabbi, Jair Melchior, said on public Israeli radio, as reported by dpa. "We will not let terrorists … make us change our daily lives, live in fear and run to other places," he said. "We here are showing them that we are not doing that and we are continuing our lives here as they are."

French President François Hollande said on Monday that Jews have "their place in Europe and especially France." French Prime Minister Manuel Valls also said that the French government would defend Jews, saying that every Jew who leaves the country "is a piece of France that is gone." He also announced a security plan involving the deployment of troops and police in public places and near sensitive sites saying that "[France] will prolong these measures as long as necessary, as long as the threat remains so high."

France has tightened security measures across the country to protect the Jewish community against possible threats. The Charlie Hebdo attack on January 7 prompted fears among many French Jews, as more Jews consider fleeing to Israel due to growing security concerns. Some 10,000 military personnel were deployed to protect public sites in January.

Meanwhile, the Israeli government approved a $46 million immigration plan for the absorption of Jewish immigrants from France, Belgium and Ukraine.

France is home to Europe's largest Jewish population, estimated between 500,000 and 600,000. In Denmark, the number of Jews is relatively small with some 7,000 Jews living in the small European country of 5.6 million people.