Support rally for Copenhagen attack victims draws 30,000
'We stand shoulder to shoulder. Muslims, Jews and Christians, people of different political convictions,' says Danish PM; Danish Jews not keen to leave despite terror attacks: 'Denmark has a very good history of taking care of the Jewish community'.
Some 30,000 Danes came out in force in Copenhagen on Monday night for a a torchlit vigil in the wake of Saturday's terror attacks that claimed the lives of two people and left five others wounded.
Stunned citizens in what is usually one of the world's most peaceful countries flocked to Monday's rally in a square near the cultural centre where the first attack took place. Many held flaming torches aloft, illuminating the chilly winter night.
"Tonight I want to tell all Danish Jews: you are not alone. An attack on Denmark's Jews is an attack on everyone," she said. "The Jewish community is an important part of Denmark," Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt said at the rally.
Faced with the spectacle of European Jews being again targeted by extremists, just over a month after similar attacks in Paris, governments were scrambling to reassure their Jewish communities.
Thorning-Schmidt said Danes had come together to "insist on living free and safe lives in a democratic country."
"When others try to scare us and tear us apart, our response is always a strong community," she declared.
"We stand shoulder to shoulder. Muslims, Jews and Christians, people of different political convictions. We stand together as Danes," she added.
Thorning-Schmidt urged Danes not to allow the violent events interrupt life in the country. "We are adamant that we will live an ordinary life, where we go to gatherings and parties. We will live as we want, and we are who we are. And tonight we join hands," she said.
Danish Crown Prince Frederik was also in attendance at the rally, while Swedish and Norwegian foreign ministers represented their countries.
One guard died on Saturday when a gunman attacked a Copenhagen synagogue, which followed a shooting at a cafe hosting a conference on free speech. The incidents came less than a month after 17 people were killed in Paris when Islamist gunmen attacked the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and later targeted a Jewish supermarket.
"The attack was motivated by a hatred that is completely incomprehensible to us. It was a desire to harm a group of people solely because of our religion," Dan Rosenberg Asmussen, chairman of the Danish Jewish Community, said at the rally.
US President Barack Obama expressed solidarity with Denmark in a phone call with Thorning-Schmidt on Monday. The two leaders "agreed on the need to work together to confront attacks on freedom of expression as well as against anti-Semitic violence," the White House said in a statement.
The FBI are helping Danish authorities probe the attacks, a senior US official confirmed, declining to say what kind of help the US was providing.
Jews' loyalty to Denmark runs deep
But while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's calls for Jews to move to Israel after attacks in Paris and Copenhagen may strike a chord with thousands of French Jews, they will likely fall on deaf ears in Denmark.
Denmark has a generous welfare system and a healthy economy, and the attack on a synagogue may do little to change the loyalties of Danish Jews.
The Jewish Agency said 12 Danish Jews migrated to Israel in 2014, compared with 17 the year before, despite worries about growing anti-Semitism.
In contrast, more than 7,000 French Jews made Aliyah, or emigrated to Israel, in 2014, up from 3,400 in 2013, for reasons that community leaders say range from a weak economy to fear of attacks and harassment in the street.
French community leaders report hundreds of anti-Semitic incidents, from desecration of graves to physical attacks. Danish Jewish leaders say anti-Semitic incidents rose this summer during the Gaza conflict, but not enough for them to leave.
"It's not a dangerous anti-Semitism. It's spitting, cursing, like that," Copenhagen Chief Rabbi Jair Melchior told Reuters.
Denmark has welcomed Jews for centuries and most of the community survived the Holocaust, despite Nazi occupation, as Danes helped them flee to safety in neighboring Sweden - often after being given shelter in Danish households despite the risks.
"Denmark has a very good history of taking care of the Jewish community going back to the Second World War, when the Danish experience stands out on a European scale," Asmussen told a news conference.
"So we want to stay in Denmark."
There are about 7,000 Jews in Denmark. Even the few who have left for Israel feel nostalgic for the comforts of Denmark, where people enjoy parental leave and pensions that are the envy of the world.
"Denmark is a very generous society," said Deborah Chason, 66, head of the Association of Danes in Israel. "They have everything there. I understand why people would not want to leave."
In Jerusalem since 1986, her Danish pension is still more than she gets from the Israeli government.
Ties may be looser in France, which has the largest Jewish population in Europe, having grown by nearly half since World War Two to total 550,000. Many Jews from regions like North Africa say they feel outsiders from mainstream France.
Denmark has suffered some anti-Semitic incidents and many still remember when the Copenhagen synagogue was damaged in 1985 by Palestinian terrorists who detonated bombs around the city.
But that may pale in comparison to France.
Violent incidents such as the murders of three Jewish children and a rabbi by Islamist militant gunman Mohamed Merah in 2012, or a bomb attack against a Kosher supermarket the same year, sent shock waves through the Jewish community.
Jewish groups say there are hundreds of smaller anti-Semitic incidents every year. Only recently, several hundred Jewish tombs were recently damaged in a cemetery near the French city of Strasbourg,
"In 10 years, there will be no more Jews in France," said Nahman, a 30-year-old plumber who asked not to give his full name. "People are being killed because they're Jewish, but that's not the main thing – it's the dirty looks, the insults and harassment in the streets if we identify as Jews."
Nahman added that in eight months, he planned to relocate to the French-speaking Netanya.
He is still in a minority. Bruno Smia, president of the Jewish community in Saint-Mande, a Paris neighborhood near the attacked Jewish supermarket, says far more Jews entertain the prospect of leaving than act upon it.
"Many come and ask me about Aliyah, but I don't see huge numbers leaving."
In Denmark, few would even ask.
"We went back to normal already this morning by having a regular morning prayers," Rabbi Melchior said. "I'm not frightened to be a Jew in Denmark."
AFP and Reuters contributed to this report.
