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Barghouti accuses PA of failure to face Israel's calls for Jewish immigrants

January 16, 2015 at 11:59 am

Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative Mustafa Barghouti accused the Palestinian Authority of failing to confront Benjamin Netanyahu’s calls for European Jews to migrate to Israel.

In a statement to Quds.net, Barghouti said: “I believe the Palestinian diplomatic missions working in countries where Israel has been calling Jewish nationals to migrate can do much better if they concentrate their effort, energy and interest on addressing the issue.”

He accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of exploiting the problems faced by Jews to bring them to Israel.

Earlier this week, senior Israeli officials urged Jews in France and Europe to move to Israel after a gunman attacked a kosher supermarket in Paris.

Netanyahu said: “To all the Jews of France, all the Jews of Europe, I would like to say that Israel is not just the place in whose direction you pray; the state of Israel is your home.”

Israel’s Haaretz newspaper quoted Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman issuing similar calls. “There is no such thing as Zionism without aliya [Jewish immigration]. And it doesn’t make a difference if it is France, the Jews of Russia, or the Jews of the US. We must talk about aliya, that is the meaning of Zionism, and we will not compromise,” he said.

Secretary-General of the Islamic-Christian Committee to Support Occupied Jerusalem and Holy Sites Dr Hanna Issa condemned Netanyahu’s calls for French Jews to immigrate to Israel, saying they are a part of the Israeli scheme to expand Jewish settlements in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem.