‘This Place Is Lost’: Barcelona Chief Rabbi Tells Spain’s Jews to Head for Israel

Spain is Europe’s hub for Islamist terror and the time has come for Jews to head for Israel and safety, Barcelona’s chief rabbi has warned.

Rabbi Meir Bar-Hen delivered the grim, personal message on Friday in the aftermath of the terror attack in Barcelona that claimed 14 lives and left over 100 more injured.

In an interview with JTA news agency, he said: “I tell my congregants: Don’t think we’re here for good, and I encourage them to buy property in Israel.

“This place is lost. Don’t repeat the mistake of Algerian Jews, of Venezuelan Jews. Better (get out) early than late. Europe is lost.”

Part of the problem exposed by the attacks, Bar-Hen said, is a large Muslim community in Europe with “radical fringes.” Once these people are “living among you,” he said of terrorists and their enablers, “it’s very difficult to get rid of them. They only get stronger.”

This is not the first call for Jews to reconsider their future in Europe.

As Breitbart News reported, the flight of Jews from mainland Europe has been rising in the wake of a sharp rise in anti-Semitism that should be a warning to the rest of the population, a prominent Jewish organisation warned last year.

Evidence shows that Jewish migration to Israel has doubled in the last two years, with many more opting to flee to America and even Britain in the wake of a rise in anti-Semitic attacks.

A video released in 2016 said that this is not just a problem for Jews, but for the whole of European society, chillingly warning: “the Islamists and Nazis attacking Europe’s Jews hate you too.”

Daniel Schwammenthal, director of the Brussels-based Transatlantic Institute, commented at the time: “You know something has gone awfully wrong when you get phone calls from friends and family in Israel who are worried about your personal safety in Europe’s capital.”

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