BICOM

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined dozens of world leaders in Paris yesterday for a solidarity rally in the wake of last week’s terror attacks in the city, which included the killing of four Jewish men at a kosher supermarket.

The rally drew millions of people and was headed by French President Francois Hollande, flanked by numerous international dignitaries including Netanyahu and just a few feet away, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas.

Netanyahu’s office had initially announced that the complex security arrangements meant that he would not attend. Haaretz reports that Hollande had asked Netanyahu to stay away from the event to avoid risking diverting attention to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. However, once it was announced that political rivals Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Economy Minister Naftali Bennett would attend the Paris rally, Netanyahu decided to fly to Paris and apparently an invitation was also extended to Abbas.

Following yesterday’s rally, Netanyahu alongside Hollande attended a special event at Paris’s Grand Synagogue, where Netanyahu addressed the Jewish community. He said, “Today I walked the streets of Paris with the leaders of the world, to say enough terrorism; the time has come to fight terrorism.” He added, “The truth and righteousness are with us. Our common enemy is extreme Islam, not Islam, not regular extremists, but extreme Islam.”

In reference to a deadly terror attack at a synagogue in Har Nof in November, Netanyahu said, “Those who killed and massacred Jews in a synagogue recently in Israel and those who killed Jews and journalists in Paris are part of the same global terror movement.” He explained that radical Islam does not target the West because of Israel, but because Israel is an integral part of the West.

Netanyahu also extended Israel’s hand to France’s embattled Jewish community. Careful to avoid explicitly calling for their emigration, he said that although Jews “have a full right to live secure and peaceful lives” anywhere, including France, they can also “join their brothers and sisters in their historic homeland of Israel.”