Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke on Tuesday afternoon spoke with French President Francois Hollande and expressed his appreciation for the vigorous action by the French security forces in bringing about the capture of the terrorist suspected of perpetrating the anti-Semitic attack in Brussels.
According to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, Netanyahu told the French President that he appreciates the latter’s strong and consistent stand against anti-Semitism.
Medhi Nemmouche, a French jihadist suspected of carrying out last week’s Brussels Jewish Museum killings, was arrested several days ago. He had previously spent a year fighting alongside jihadist groups in Syria.
The arrest has heightened concerns in France over locals who go to Syria to fight alongside rebels, then come home and bring terrorism with them.
The European Union’s anti-terror chief, Gilles de Kerchove, predicted on Monday that Europe can expect further “small-scale attacks” like the fatal shooting at the Jewish Museum in Brussels.
“I don’t expect another 9/11,” he said in a video statement. “I don’t expect a major sophisticated attack.”
“I [do] expect more small-scale attacks like the one in Brussels,” he added.
On Tuesday, France increased its estimate of the number of its nationals embroiled in Syria’s civil war to more than 800, and warned that they pose an unprecedented security threat.
“We have never before faced a challenge of this kind,” French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said. “It is without any doubt the most serious threat we face.”
During Tuesday’s conversation with Hollande, Prime Minister Netanyahu also said that the new Palestinian Authority unity government with backing from the Hamas terrorist organization is a Palestinian step against peace and in favor of terrorism and that, therefore, it would be a mistake to grant it legitimacy.
Netanyahu added that no European country would be prepared to accept a terrorist organization as part of its government.
(Arutz Sheva’s North American Desk is keeping you updated until the start of the Shavuot holiday in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)
