Funerals in Jerusalem for 4 killed in Paris
Netanyahu repeats his ‘open arms’ invitation to all French Jews to live in Israel
They were buried on Tuesday not in the land where they had made their homes but in what was described as their homeland.
The funeral for the four Jews killed on Friday in a terrorist attack on a kosher supermarket in Paris was at once emotional and political, underscoring the tension roiling in recent days between a call for mass immigration to Israel and a demand to protect diaspora communities.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel repeated his “open arms” invitation to all French Jews, which had set off a backlash over the weekend.
“Jews have the right to live in many countries and it is their right to live in perfect safety but I believe that they know deep in their hearts that they have only one country, the state of Israel, that will accept them with open arms, like beloved children,” Mr Netanyahu said.
“Today more than ever, Israel is our true home and the more numerous we are, and the more united we are in our country, the stronger we are in our one and only state.”
Israel’s president, Reuven Rivlin, told the Jews of France, “we yearn to see you settle in Zion” but said immigration “need not be due to distress, out of desperation, because of destruction, or in the throes of terror and fear”.
“The land of Israel is the land of choice — we want you to choose Israel because of a love for Israel,” he said.
“Dear families, aside the graves of your loved ones, we promise that we will continue to fight for your right to live as Jews — wherever you may be.”
The noon service drew several thousand people to a hilltop cemetery called Mount of Rest where, less than three years before, a similar funeral was held for three children and a rabbi killed in an attack by a Muslim extremist on a Jewish school in Toulouse, France.
Many in the crowd were newcomers from France, the largest feeder country to Israel last year with nearly 7,000 immigrants, almost twice the number in 2013.
French flags were interspersed with Israeli ones on the city’s main roads and placards saying “Jerusalem embraces the French people” had been posted in various neighbourhoods. Radio stations played French music. The parking area where the service was held was ringed only by Israel’s blue-and-white Star of David emblem. The mourners sang the Israeli national anthem.
“It’s easier for newcomers to be absorbed in the country because you can continue to live a part of the way of life in France,” said Avi Zana, who arrived 35 years ago and runs an organisation to help French immigrants settle here. “Immigration is not like it was in the past. You don’t leave everything behind you when you leave France. Today you are constantly in contact.”
The stay-or-go dilemma was an undercurrent at the funeral, where many of the mourners said they had relatives in France who were newly contemplating packing their bags. Expanding the slogan that has gripped the world since last Wednesday’s killings at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, some mourners held signs that said, in French: “I am Charlie, I am Jewish, I am Israeli, I am French, I am fed up.” Family members lit torches next to the bodies, wrapped in Jewish prayer shawls. The victims were Yoav Hattab, who grew up in Tunisia but was studying in Paris, Yohan Cohen, 22, who worked in the Hyper Cacher market and, according to news reports, died while trying to disarm the gunman, Philippe Braham, 45, a teacher and father of four, and FrancoisMichel Saada, 63, whose two children were among the new throngs of French-Israelis.
“All his life he loved Israel,” said Saada’s son, Jonathan. “He really wanted to live here and he will. He’s here now and I’m sure he’s really happy to be with you here.”
Braham’s widow, Valerie, could not contain her tears as she spoke about him as a “perfect person” and recalled that they had buried their 3-year-old son in Jerusalem four years ago.
“Today he is with my son,” she said, broken yet poised. “I cry but I know that you are all crying with me.”