Danish Chief Rabbi Jair Melchior said he was 'disappointed' in Netanyahu

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said her government will do everything possible to protect Jewish sites

He said Netanyahu was 'leading people to believe that Jews no longer have a place in Europe and in France in particular'

French President Francois Hollande said he cannot let the comment pass

European leaders have reacted with anger at Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu extraordinary plea for Jews to leave Europe to escape the rising tide of antisemitic terror attacks.

Netanyahu said that Europe was no longer a safe haven for Jews following terror attacks in Paris and Copenhagen, adding that Israel is now the only country in the world where Jews can feel safe.

The remarkable comments were promptly savaged by the leaders of France, Germany and Denmark, and were met with fury from Jewish groups.

French President Francois Hollande said. 'I will not just let what was said in Israel pass, leading people to believe that Jews no longer have a place in Europe and in France in particular,' while German Chancellor Angela Merkel said her government is doing everything possible to protect Jewish sites.

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Anger: French President Francois Hollande (right) reacted angrily to comments made by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left), saying: 'I will not just let what was said in Israel pass, leading people to believe that Jews no longer have a place in Europe and in France in particular'

Israeli and Danish flags sit side by side amid a floral tribute at the scene of the Copenhagen synagogue attack

The sister of Dan Uzan, 37, breaks down in tears during a visit to the central synagogue in Krystalgade, Copenhagen today. Her brother killed in the attack on the building, where he volunteered as a security guard

Denmark's current Chief Rabbi Jair Melchior (right) comforts a woman at the scene of the Copenhagen terror attack. Netanyahu's comments triggered an angry response from Melchior, who said he was 'disappointed'

Tributes: Flowers are pictured outside the synagogue in Copenhagen that was attacked over the weekend

United: Denmark's Former Chief Rabbi Bent Melchior (left) embraces Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo (right) while French Chief Rabbi Moise Lewin (centre) looks on, during a visit the scene of the Copenhagen attack

People pause for a moment of silence at a memorial site for the victims of the deadly attacks in Copenhagen

The chair of Britain's Parliamentary committee against anti-Semitism, John Mann, also attacked Mr Netanyahu's remarks.

He said: 'Mr Netanyahu made the same remarks in Paris - it's just crude electioneering. It's no coincidence that there's a general election in Israel coming up.

'The comments are not helpful and I think people will ignore them...We're not prepared to tolerate a situation in this country or in any country in Europe where any Jews feel they have to leave.'

'But if people make a positive choice to move then that's their right to do so,' he added.

This afternoon a Downing Street spokesman said: 'The Prime Minister called the Danish Prime Minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, today to personally offer his condolences and to offer the UK's support at this difficult time.

'Both agreed on the importance of the UK and Danish authorities continuing to work together to tackle the threat posed by Islamist extremism, including the close co-operation between our intelligence agencies.

'They also agreed that the shootings in Copenhagen reinforced the case for even closer international cooperation to tackle terrorism, for example cracking down on the trafficking of illegal firearms and exchanging passenger name records.'

Netanyahu's renewed call for a modern-day exodus came just hours after the deadly terror attacks in Copenhagen and one month after four hostages were killed at a Paris kosher deli

Talks: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) speaks with Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, during a ceremony for new Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot this morning

Benjamin Netanyahu's renewed a call for Jews to move to Israel amid fears of attack - but his remarks were slammed by French PM Manuel Valls (pictured) who appeared to accuse him of electioneering

German Chancellor Angela Merkel this morning said that her government will do everything possible to ensure Jewish sites are secure

Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt (pictured this afternoon) also expressed support for the Jewish community, telling reporters: 'They belong in Denmark, they are a strong part of our community, and we will do everything we can to protect the Jewish community in our country'

Frenchmen have been accused of three deadly attacks on Jewish sites since 2012: one at a school in the southern city of Toulouse, another at a museum in Brussels and finally one at a kosher market last month. Twelve people died in total

Hundreds of graves at a Jewish cemetery near Strasbourg were also desecrated over the weekend amid heightened fears in France, which has the world's third-largest Jewish population.

'We know there are doubts, questions across the community,' French President Francois Hollande said as he reacted with shock and anger to Netanyahu's comments.

Meanwhile German Chancellor Angela Merkel this morning said that her government will do everything possible to ensure Jewish sites are secure.

'We are glad and thankful that there is Jewish life in Germany again,' Merkel said in Berlin. 'And we would like to continue living well together with the Jews who are in Germany today.'

France's Prime Minister Manuel Valls also slammed Netanyahu's comments, telling 475,000 French Jews the whole nation was 'wounded with you' after a gunman killed two people including a synagogue security guard in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Mr Valls criticised Netanyahu's plea for mass migration - and questioned its timing just a month before Mr Netanyahu seeks re-election to the Israeli Parliament on March 17.

The French Prime Minister said: 'My message to French Jews is the following: 'France is wounded with you and France does not want you to leave'.'

'I regret Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks. Being in the middle of an election campaign doesn't mean you authorise yourself to make just any type of statement... The place for French Jews is France.'

A Jew who leaves France is a piece of France that is gone,' he later added.

Gunned down: The terror suspect believed to have killed two men in separate shootings in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Valentine's Day was shot dead by police at around 5am yesterday after a dramatic standoff

Terror suspect: Danish-born 22-year-old Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein, pictured left in an appeal following a 2013 knife attack and right on Saturday, was killed in Denmark after opening fire on officers

Smashed glass: Investigators were seen at the Krudttonden cafe in the city yesterday morning where the gunman fired 200 bullets at crowds attending a freedom of speech event

Victims: Finn Norgaard, 55, (left) was killed at a free speech debate in a cafe hours before 37-year-old Dan Uzan (right), a basketball player, was shot in the head as he guarded the door of a Bat Mitzvah

Controversial: Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks (pictured) has previously depicted the prophet Muhammad as a stray dog. He believes he was the gunman's intended target

Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt also expressed support for the Jewish community, telling reporters: 'They belong in Denmark, they are a strong part of our community, and we will do everything we can to protect the Jewish community in our country.'

'The Jewish community have been in this country for centuries. They belong in Denmark, they are part of the Danish community and we wouldn't be the same without the Jewish community in Denmark,' she added.

Netanyahu's comments also triggered an angry response from Copenhagen's chief rabbi, Jair Melchior, who said he was 'disappointed' by the remarks.

'People from Denmark move to Israel because they love Israel, because of Zionism. But not because of terrorism,' he said. 'If the way we deal with terror is to run somewhere else, we should all run to a deserted island,' he added.

More than 80 per cent of the world's Jews live in the U.S. and Israel but there are large communities elsewhere, including in Canada, Britain, Russia, Argentina, Germany and Australia.

Netanyahu issued his call during the weekly meeting of his Cabinet, which approved a previously scheduled $46 million plan to encourage Jewish immigration from France, Belgium and Ukraine - countries where large numbers of Jews have expressed interest in moving to Israel.

British senior Labour party backbencher Louise Ellman also criticised the Israeli leader's remarks.

Mrs Ellman - one of the most prominent Jewish MPs in Parliament - said: 'I disagree with what he has said...It is the responsibility of all governments to look after their citizens and that includes Jewish citizens.'

A spokesperson for Britain's Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis told MailOnline he would not be giving an immediate response to Netanyahu's comments as he is currently attending a conference.

PROFILE: BENJAMIN NETANYAHU - ISRAEL'S THREE-TIME PRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been elected Prime Minister of Israel three times and is widely known by his nickname 'Bibi', was born in Tel Aviv in 1949. The Netanyahu family moved to the U.S. in 1963 when Benjamin's historian and Zionist activist father Benzion was offered an academic job there. Netanyahu returned to his homeland at the age of 18 to serve in the army for five years, where he rose to the rank of captain in the elite commando unit Sayeret Matkal. He took part in a raid on Beirut's airport in 1968 and fought in the 1973 Middle East war, before returning to America to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1976 Netanyahu's elite army commando brother Yonatan was killed trying to rescue hostages from a hijacked airline in Uganda. In 1979 a profoundly affected Netanyahu set up an anti-terrorism institute in his brother's memory, which led to him being noticed by the Israeli government, who saw the eloquent, American-accented ex-soldier as a perfect representative for the country at the UN headquarters in New York. Netanyahu returned to Israel in 1988 and quickly rose through the ranks of domestic politics until in 1996 he became the country's first democratically elected Prime Minister. He was also Israel's youngest every Prime Minister and the first to be born after the formation on the state in 1948. Despite his reputation as a hardline conservative, Netanyahu initially drew criticism from right wing supporters for agreeing to hand over 80 per cent of Hebron to the Palestinian Authority as part of a peace deal. Netanyahu was eventually defeated at the next election and even his own father publicly branded him 'not a very good Prime Minister'. Netanyahu worked his way back up the political ladder, however, until in 2005 he resigned from government in protest at Israel agreeing to pull out the Gaza Strip. When Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a massive stroke and was left in a coma Netanyahu returned for this second term, forming a coalition with right wing parties who pursued a tough line on peace talks. Although he agreed to a two-state solution for the country, Netanyahu insisted Palestinians recognise Israel as a Jewish state. Incredibly popular for his tough stance, Netanyahu called early elections in 2013, easily winning. He almost immediately launched multiple attacks on terror targets within the Gaza Strip, with the stated aim of securing long-term quiet in Israel. The death toll exceeded previous interventions in Gaza, and led to strained relations with U.S. President Barack Obama, who was overheard complaining of 'having to deal with him everyday'. Netanyahu has also taken a hard line towards Iran, repeatedly warning of the danger to the international community of allowing it to develop nuclear weapons. Advertisement

Jens Madsen, head of Denmark's intelligence agency PET, said investigators believed the gunman who killed two people in the weekend shootings in Copenhagen was inspired by Islamic radicalism.

A visibly moved Thorning-Schmidt laid flowers at the synagogue Sunday, accompanied by former Chief Rabbi Bent Lexner, Jewish community leader Dan Rosenberg Asmussen and Anders Gadegaard from the Copenhagen Protestant cathedral.

'My message is that all of Denmark feels with you,' Thorning-Schmidt said. 'This is not the Denmark we want. We want a Denmark where people freely can choose one's religion.'

Denmark is known for saving most of its Jews during World War II. There are an estimated 6,000 to 7,000 Jews in Denmark.

Melchior, the chief rabbi, identified the Jewish victim in Copenhagen as Dan Uzan, a security guard.

'He was a person who was always willing to help. An amazing, amazing guy,' said Melchior, speaking from Israel before boarding a return flight to Copenhagen.

The community had previously asked police for enhanced security, and following last month's attack on the Paris kosher market, Danish police began reevaluating security, Melchior said.

Netanyahu spoke at a time of rising tensions with European countries over Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, captured territories claimed by the Palestinians. Some Israelis believe such criticism has helped fuel anti-Semitism.

European leaders have insisted that their criticism of Israel's actions in the West Bank and east Jerusalem have had no bearing on the treatment of their own Jewish communities.

Criminal record: Police said El-Hussein (above) is known to them due to past violence, gang-related activities and and possession of weapons. He is pictured (right) in an image issued by police after the 2013 knife attack

Tributes: Rows of flowers line the streets outside the synagogue in Copenhagen where Mr Uzan, described as an 'amazing, amazing man,' was killed

Atrocity: Flowers, letters and candles in the streets surrounding the synagogue. A poster of support for the victims of the Charlie Hebdo killing was put up, with witnesses describing chilling similarities

Search: Danish police carry out an investigation at the PowerPlay internet cafe in Norrebrogade, Copenhagen

Netanyahu rushed to France following the January 7-9 killings at the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket, urging the country's Jews to move to Israel.

French leaders signaled their unhappiness.

'France, without the Jews of France, is no longer France,' French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said at the time. The government has since increased protection at synagogues, Jewish schools and other sensitive sites.

The jihadi who killed two people before being gunned down by Danish police yesterday was inspired by the Charlie Hebdo atrocity in Paris it emerged last night.

Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein was shot at a train station in Copenhagen after he opened fire on armed officers in the early hours of yesterday morning.

The 22-year-old fanatic murdered film director Finn Norgaard, 55, while indiscriminately firing an automatic rifle at a free speech debate at a cafe on Saturday afternoon.

His intended target was thought to have been the controversial Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, who has previously depicted the prophet Muhammad as a stray dog. Mr Vilks escaped unscathed.

Some ten hours later the gunman shot Dan Uzan in the head at a synagogue holding a bat mitzvah celebration for 80 people. Mr Uzan, 37, an economist at the Danish treasury, had been acting as a volunteer security guard for the event.

Two police officers, who were at the synagogue to provide extra security following the earlier cafe shooting, were shot in the arms and legs. Three others were injured in the earlier attack. All are expected to survive.

France and Belgium have experienced deadly attacks on their Jewish communities in in recent years, most recently an attack in Paris last month that killed four Jews at a kosher market.

Ukraine, meanwhile, is in the midst of a conflict between government troops and Russian-backed separatists.

'This wave of attacks is expected to continue,' Netanyahu told his Cabinet. 'Jews deserve security in every country, but we say to our Jewish brothers and sisters, Israel is your home.'

OMAR ABDEL HAMID EL-HUSSEIN: THE KNIFE-WIELDING THUG WHO GRADUATED FROM GANGSTER TO COPENHAGEN TERRORIST Prowling menacingly through a train with a knife, this is the gangster turned terrorist who caused mayhem in Copenhagen. Born in Denmark to migrant parents, Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein descended into a life of crime in his teenage years, joining notorious gang The Brothas and roaming the streets with a knife or a gun. By the time he was killed by armed officers outside a train station in the Danish capital yesterday, the 22-year-old had an extensive criminal record for offences including assault and possession of dangerous weapons. In November 2013, El-Hussein was caught on CCTV pulling a knife out on a train in Copenhagen. Moments later he walked down the aisle between the seats and select his victim at random. He knifed a 19-year-old man in the thigh and buttock before strolling off the train. He was jailed for the attack and was released from prison only two weeks ago, after serving his sentence for aggravated assault. He was known to Danish intelligence services, who said it was impossible to keep a round-the-clock watch on all its suspects. Last night it was unclear how El-Hussein was radicalised or if he had travelled to Syria or Iraq. The second shooting took place in Nørrebro, an ethnically mixed district of the capital where violent gang wars have recently raged. Locals say there is an ongoing tit-for-tat battle between bikers and ethnic minority youths. Some say the shootings over the weekend were part of a turf war over the lucrative hashish trade in the city. Others say it has been inflamed by feelings of marginalisation among ethnic minority youngsters. The National Night Owls Association, a voluntary public safety group that patrols the streets, has decided to pull out of the district. NNOA's Erik Thorsted said: 'This is the first time the organisation has had to give up on an area.' Nørrebro has a migrant population of almost 30 per cent and has been the site of many riots over the past 35 years. During the 1980s, it was often the setting for violent clashes between Danish police and militant squatters known as BZ. Advertisement

'Heinous anti-Semitic attack': A defaced tombstone pictured yesterday at the main Jewish cemetery in Sarre-Union, in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace, on the German border

Shocking scene: Up to 400 gravestones were vandalised by being kicked over, or had Nazi swastikas daubed on them in red paint

Desecrated: Hundreds of tombs were defaced at this Jewish cemetery in Sarre-Union, northeastern France

Sickened: France's interior minister described the vandalism at the cemetery as a 'despicable act'

'Odious act': France's interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve (at the site of the Copenhagen attack yesterday) said the country would 'not tolerate this latest attack which harms the values all French people share'

French President Francois Hollande called the graveyard attacks and 'odious and barbaric' anti-Semitic act against French values

A police officer secures the entrance to the Jewish graveyard after up to 400 graves were desecrated

Meanwhile hundreds of graves were vandalized at a Jewish cemetery in eastern France over the weekend, in what President Francois Hollande called an 'odious and barbaric' anti-Semitic act against French values.

French Jews have been increasingly migrating to Israel, a pattern that dismayed the French government well before the attacks at the kosher supermarket and since has left top officials pleading for them to stay.

In 2014, more than 7,000 French Jews left, more than double the number for 2013.

The exodus from France accelerated after the March 2012 attacks by Mohammed Merah, who stormed a Jewish school in Toulouse, killing three children and a rabbi.

Last month's attack in France was part of a wave of violence that killed a total of 17 people carried out by extremists who claimed allegiance to the al-Qaida and Islamic State extremist groups.

France's interior minister described the vandalism at the cemetery as a 'despicable act'.

Mourning: Denmark's Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt attended the synagogue where Dan Uzan died

Public protection: An elderly resident is accompanied down the street in Norrebro where the suspect was killed outside a metro station at dawn yesterday

High alert: A police officer is poised with a rifle yesterday afternoon. Security measures in the capital were heightened after the attack but counter-terrorism officers seemed confident the threat had lowered

After the incident: Outisde Krudttonden cafe, officers continue to survey the damage left by 200 bullets fired at crowds on Saturday afternoon during a debate on free speech

Mr Netanyahu made his call for Europe's Jewish population to emigrate yesterday, reiterating a similar plea he made in the wake of the Paris attacks.

'To the Jews of Europe and to the Jews of the world I say that Israel is waiting for you with open arms,' he said.

'Extremist Islamic terrorism has struck Europe again... Jews have been murdered again on European soil only because they were Jews'.

His comments came hours after Saturday's Copenhagen shootings which killed two people.

Film director Finn Nørgaard, 55, was shot dead during a free speech debate at a cafe which was due to feature Lars Vilks, an artist who drew the Prophet Mohammed as a stray dog in 2007.

Hours later security guard Dan Uzan, 37, was shot in the head as he stood outside a synagogue where a young girl was celebrating her Bat Mitzvah.

The suspected jihadi attacker, named as Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein, 22, was gunned down by police at a metro station yesterday amid fears the rampage was inspired by the Paris attacks.

Those attacks left 17 people dead, including four Jewish men who were taken hostage by an Islamist gunman at a kosher supermarket. Their bodies were repatriated to Israel for burial.

The European Jewish Association has called for round-the-clock security at Jewish institutions and demanded more action by national governments

Last month's attack in France was part of a wave of violence that killed a total of 17 people carried out by extremists who claimed allegiance to the al-Qaida and Islamic State extremist groups

Thousands took to the streets of Paris following the terror attacks in the French capital in January

EU leaders had already agreed last week to step up international co-operation on counter-terror investigations in a bid to stop further attacks.

Rabbi Menachem Margolin, the Brussels-based association's general director, said: 'European leaders need to support us in fighting the battle on terror in our homeland.'

He accused EU leaders of burying their heads 'in the sand' for months after an armed attack on the Jewish museum in Brussels last May which killed four people.

And he called for the establishment of a Europe-wide task force to beef up protection of Jewish institutions and reinforce educational efforts against what he called 'rampant anti-Semitism.'

EU President Donald Tusk said the latest acts of violence would only strengthen Europeans' resolve to fight all kinds of extremism and terrorism.

'We will press forward with our new agreed priorities in the fight against terrorism,' he said. 'We will face this threat together.'