Some of Europe’s Jews might take Netanyahu up on his offer of a new home

LISBON, Portugal — An hour's drive north from Copenhagen, the tranquil fishing harbor of Gilleleje is the site of an unexpected monument.

Among the thatched cottages and white-washed vacation homes is a 20-foot bronze statue portraying a robed figure blasting skyward on a shofar — the ram's horn bugle used in Jewish services since ancient times.

The statue, erected in 1997, was a gift to the town from an Israeli businessman to recognize the local fishermen who had helped Denmark's Jews escape the Nazis.

Under German occupation, Danes banded together with rare heroism to ensure 7,000 of the prewar Jewish population of 7,500 got away. From Gilleleje alone, 2,000 were spirited across the straits to neutral Sweden in the autumn of 1943, hidden from the Gestapo in the holds of fishing boats.

Denmark's Jews returned after the liberation, a compact community of around 8,000. On Saturday that community was shaken when a gunman opened fire on Copenhagen's largest synagogue, killing security guard Dan Uzan. The same gunman also opened fire at a free speech event that day, where another victim died.

The attacks followed last month's deadly assaults by terrorists in Paris that killed 17 people, including four hostages at a kosher supermarket, and other killings over the past three years targeting Jews in southern France, Bulgaria and Belgium.

In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday urged European Jews to leave.

"Jews have been murdered again on European soil only because they were Jews," Netanyahu said. "We are preparing and calling for the absorption of mass immigration from Europe."

Danish Jews were quick to say they are staying put.

"We appreciate the invitation, but we are Danish citizens, this is our country," said Dan Rosenberg Asmussen, president of Copenhagen's Jewish community.

'The feeling is of real insecurity'

Yet across Europe there is growing unease at the threat of terrorism, and fear of wider anti-Semitism connected to rising support for far-right parties and radicalization among young European Muslims intent on transposing a major Middle East conflict to the streets of Europe.

"The feeling is of real insecurity. The feeling is that people will think twice before they get close to Jewish institutions, before they go to synagogue on Saturday," says Arie Zuckerman, a senior official at the Brussels-based European Jewish Congress.

"This is a very troubling situation. Many Jews today are thinking about their future in Europe," he said in a phone interview.

Some are unsure, though, that flight to Israel is the answer, fearing that smacks of giving in to terrorism.

"No one should surrender in front of terror and this should apply to the Jews of Europe as well," said Zuckerman, who oversees the EJC’s Security and Crisis Center. He said Netanyahu's appeal was "a little surprising, calling on us to surrender and leave."

Others doubt they would be safer in Israel.

Since 2012, 18 Jews have been killed in terror attacks across Europe, some targeting religious centers. Over the same period, 58 were slain in attacks in Israel, according to figures from the Jewish Virtual Library and the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center.

European leaders, particularly in France, have appealed to Jews to stay, insisting all efforts are being made for their security.

"France is your homeland," President Francois Hollande told French Jews last month on the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. "You, French people of the Jewish faith, your place is here, in your home. France is your country."

From Europe to Israel …

Despite reassurances, more of them are leaving.

The rate of French Jews moving to Israel more than doubled last year to 7,000, making them the biggest group of annual immigrants for the first time since the Israeli state was founded in 1948.

Beyond the deadly attacks targeting Jews, human rights organizations point to a more widespread growth of anti-Semitism in Europe.

A report last month by the European Network Against Racism listed a number of incidents in 2014 ranging from rocks thrown at mourners at a Holocaust memorial in Brussels to the fire-bombing of a synagogue in Wuppertal, Germany, and anti-Semitic slogans sprayed on stores in Rome's historical Jewish neighborhood.

Five teenagers are accused of vandalizing more than 200 graves at a Jewish cemetery in northeastern France over the weekend.

Three-quarters of European Jews felt anti-Semitism had grown in their country, according to a 2013 survey of eight countries carried out by the European Union's Fundamental Rights Agency. Over a quarter said they had experienced some form of anti-Semitic harassment over the previous 12 months.

The strength of anti-Semitism in mainstream European society can be exaggerated. France has had five prime ministers from Jewish backgrounds, while US voters have never elected a Jewish president. Politicians with Jewish roots hold prominent positions, from France's foreign minister to Britain's leader of the opposition and the mayor of Frankfurt.

Yet a subculture of anti-Semitism has spread, both among far-right parties that have gathered strength during Europe's economic crisis and among disaffected youths of immigrant background, particularly those from Muslim communities.

On the right, brazenly anti-Semitic parties have risen to prominence in Greece and Hungary — the latter of which is home to 160,000 Jews, one of Europe's largest communities.

In France, the leader of the National Front Marine Le Pen denies her radical-right party is anti-Semitic. But her father Jean-Marie Le Pen, who founded the party and remains honorary president, has a long record of comments minimizing the Holocaust.

Among disaffected youth, anti-Semitism linked to the Arab-Israeli conflict has been mingled with older anti-Semitic prejudices.

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The victims of a brutal rape and robbery in a Paris suburb last year said the gang told them they were targeted for being "rich Jews"; websites spread conspiracy theories blaming Jewish lobbies for the world's ills; and anti-Semitic comedian Dieudonné M'bala M'bala has a cult following among sections of French youth — undiminished by his arrest last month over a Facebook post appearing to support the gunman who killed Jewish hostages in the Paris supermarket.

Authorities across Europe have stepped up protection for Jewish sites. In Belgium and France, the army stands guard outside businesses, schools and synagogues. Community spokespeople say that is not enough.

"We are not expecting more security, more walls, more guards. We want to see action," says Zuckerman of the European Jewish Congress. "The current situation cannot continue, you cannot be always on the defensive in front of terror, there is no hope for such a life."

… and from Israel to Europe

Yet despite the fears that prompted Netanyahu's calls for a renewed exodus of Jews from Europe, some Israelis are moving in the other direction.

Naor Narkis created an uproar in Israel late last year by creating a Hebrew-language Facebook page called “Olim Le-Berlin” (Let’s ascend to Berlin), encouraging young Israelis to join him in moving to the German capital — which, he said, is safer and cheaper than their Middle Eastern homeland.

"I didn't imagine that tens of thousands would be interested and the whole country would talk about it for months," Narkis said by phone.

Narkis has, for the moment, returned to Israel. But he says many young Israelis like him are thinking of leaving, mainly for economic reasons.

"We can't afford the life in Israel, that's a fact, so you can understand people are really excited about moving to a place where the salaries are higher and the cost of living is cut by half," he added. "A lot of Israelis around me are trying to get another passport."

The latest official figures, dating from 2012, said the number of Israelis leaving fell that year to 15,900.

Yet conservative estimates suggest at least 580,000 Israelis — more than 7 percent of the population — live abroad. Most are in the United States, but around 14,000 moved to Germany. A similar number live in Britain and 8,700 live in France, according to estimates quoted in The Times of Israel last year.

Now a new opportunity is opening up for Jews in a far corner of Europe.

The Portuguese parliament passed a law last month offering citizens' rights to the descendents of Jews forced to flee 500 years ago or face torture and death at the hands of the Spanish Inquisition. Similar legislation is expected to be adopted soon in neighboring Spain.

"It's not going to be easy to prove your ancestry more than four centuries back, but there could be over 100,000 people covered by this law," says Esther Mucznik, vice president of Lisbon's Jewish community. "They might want to come for economic reasons, because they like Portugal or because they want to get an EU passport, who knows? It's really difficult to say how many will come."

However, Mucznik says she doesn't think European Jews seeking security will choose the Iberian Peninsula over Israel.

"Even if Portugal does not really have an anti-Semitism problem, terrorism can move across borders these days," she cautions. "I think people in other parts of Europe who are afraid will choose Israel."