Tuesday 17 February 2015

The European Union Times

Netanyahu urges European Jews to move to Israel after Denmark attack

Posted: 16 Feb 2015 02:25 AM PST

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, has urged European Jews to immigrate to Israel following the shooting dead of a Danish Jew outside a Copenhagen synagogue on Sunday by a Muslim extremist.
Netanyahu announced the government will discuss Sunday a $46 million plan to encourage Jewish migration from Belgium, France and Ukraine and said at the start of a cabinet meeting that Israel is the home of all Jews.
The shooting at the Krystalgade synagogue that killed a 38-year old Jewish security guard came just hours after another deadly shooting at a free-speech event featuring an artist who had caricatured the Prophet Muhammad.
Five Danish police officers were also wounded in the shootings. Police said Sunday they had shot and killed the man who had carried out both the attacks.
“We send our condolences to the Danish people, and also to the Jewish community in Denmark. Once again Jews are murdered on the soil of Europe just for being Jews. This wave of terror attacks is expected to continue, including these murderous anti-Semitic attacks,” said Netanyahu.
Netanyahu said that Jews should feel protected wherever they live and then called on the Jewish community in Denmark to move to Israel.
“We are preparing for a wave of mass aliya [Jewish immigration] from Europe; we are calling for a wave of mass aliya from Europe. I want to tell all the Jews of Europe, and Jews wherever they may be: ‘Israel is the home of every Jew… Israel awaits you with open arms,” he said.
Avigdor Lieberman, the foreign minister, called for an even tougher stance to be taken and said Jews were the canaries in the coal mine in the battle against Islamic extremism.
“The international community in its entirety cannot be satisfied with declarations and demonstrations against this terror, but must throw off the rules of political correctness and conduct and a truly uncompromising war against Islamic terror and its causes,” said Liberman.
Jair Melchior, Denmark’s chief rabbi, said he was “disappointed” by Netanyahu’s call for immigration.
“Terror is not a reason to move to Israel,” he said.
This is not the first time Netanyahu has called on Europe’s Jews to move to Israel. After the terror attacks in Paris that involved Charlie Hebdo magazine offices and a kosher shop he called on Jews to leave Europe because of what he said is “the rising tide of anti-Semitism”.
“Europe is waking up to a new era, a new reality, to which we in Israel and around the Jewish world have been pointing out for the last 10 years. We are witnessing a rise of anti-Semitic attacks and expressions,” expert on anti-Semitism from the World Zionist organization Eitan Uri Bakhar told RT.
“We need to wake up and say, ‘You know what? It is the responsibility of every government in Europe and around the world to protect their minorities and their citizens,” he added.
Following the Copenhagen attack, the European Jewish Association has demanded increased protection of Jewish institutions across the continent
General Director Rabbi Menachem Margolin accused EU leaders of failing to do enough to battle anti-Semitism and said that it’s imperative to “secure all Jewish institutions 24/7”.
Source

Italy rescues 2164 migrants in the Mediterranean Sea

Posted: 16 Feb 2015 01:59 AM PST

Italy moved in to rescue over 2,100 migrants on the Mediterranean Sea.

The Italian coastguard has rescued a total of 2,164 people as part of a major rescue operation to try to save migrants in trouble in the Mediterranean Sea.
Italian media reported on Sunday that all migrants aboard 12 boats that set out from Libya’s coast have been helped to safety near the Italian island of Lampedusa.
An ATR42 plane, four coastguard ships, two tugboats, a navy ship, and nearby cargo ships took part in the operation.
Four armed men in a speedboat approached the rescuers during the operation and forced them to return a boat that had been emptied of migrants, the Italian transport ministry said in a statement.
On Saturday, some 600 migrants aboard six rubber dinghies were rescued by Italian guards and merchant vessels while 300 others died in a major tragedy last week.

UN after change in EU policy
Following the Saturday incident, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) called on the European Union “to urgently change its approach to dealing with sea crossings with a view to ensuring that saving lives is the top-most priority.”
Italy ended its full-scale coast guard operation known as Mare Nostrum, and the EU replaced it with Operation Triton. The new scheme has a monthly budget about a third of the previous one, with its patrols generally restricted to territorial waters of the bloc’s member states.
According to UNHCR, more than 3,200 people died during 2014 in the Mediterranean Sea between Italy’s Lampedusa and North Africa. The route has been described by the United Nations as the world’s deadliest migrant crossing.
Source

Australia should be a “gateway to the world”

Posted: 16 Feb 2015 01:43 AM PST

During an Australia Day speech, Michael Pezzullo, the head of the immigration department, told his departmentthat Australia should not think of itself as a European (White) country and become a “gateway to the world”, or better said a second Babylon, the first one being the United States of course.
“It is always going to be the case that we were, and therefore will always be, a settler nation” he said. “The ancient indigenous heritage, a British foundation of social and political order, and the multicultural diversity of our immigrant society will always co-exist on our island continent, and in our hearts and minds.”
“But we should increasingly reframe our national self-understanding and speak more of engaging with the world, and not just settling our land. The vestiges of insularity and living ensconced in our sheltered land, far from our ‘home’, have passed away.”
In other words, he is saying that Australia should stop thinking of itself as a European country with a majority White population, and think of itself as a “nation of immigrants”.
Pezzullo said White Australia should be considered as the foundations for a new Australia, not the “final and complete definition of our story“.
“More than settlement, we should look to become Australia’s gateway to the world, and the world’s gateway to Australia.”
“But the overwhelming and predominant role of the department will be to act as the open conduits of Australia’s engagement with the world around us, whether for the purposes of trade, travel, or migration.”