From the vicious rape of a woman because her partner is Jewish to this week's deadly shooting at a kosher supermarket, a soaring number of anti-Semitic attacks is making many Jews wonder if they should simply leave France.

"If I were 30, I would get out of France" and move to Israel, said Laurent S., who would not give his family name.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told French Jews Saturday, after 17 people were killed there during three days of Islamist attacks, that Israel is their home. 

"To all the Jews of France, all the Jews of Europe, I would like to say that Israel is not just the place in whose direction you pray, the state of Israel is your home," he said in a televised statement, referring to the Jewish practice of facing Jerusalem during prayer.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked France Friday to maintain tight security on Jewish sites after a series of incidents that included hostages being killed at a kosher store in Paris.

"Prime Minister Netanyahu asked the president of France to keep up the increased security on Jewish institutions even after things return to normal," Israeli government sources told AFP following a telephone conversation between Netanyahu and Francois Hollande.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for global unity to fight the "scourge" of radical Islam, after an  attack on a satirical French newspaper killed 12 people on Wednesday.

Speaking at a crisis center in Jerusalem set up to deal with severe winter storms battering the Middle East, he expressed Israel's condolences for the "brutal act in the heart of Paris today."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched his re-election campaign on Monday with a pledge not to make any territorial concessions to the Palestinians that would harm Israel's security.

"In the coming elections, don't gamble with the security of Israel. Only Likud can ensure your security," he told activists of his rightwing party at a rally in Tel Aviv.

Israel was weighing its options Sunday for further punishing the Palestinians after freezing millions in tax revenues as a first response to their bid to join the International Criminal Court.

The Palestinian move to join the Hague-based court sets the scene for potential legal action against Israel for war crimes, in a bid to put pressure on Tel Aviv to pull out of the territories.

Members of Israel's ruling rightwing Likud began voting Wednesday for their party leader with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seeking another term at the helm ahead of snap elections in March.

The primary, in which 96,651 members are eligible to vote, is the first electoral hurdle for Netanyahu who is hoping to secure a third consecutive term in office.

Members of Israel's ruling Likud began voting Wednesday for their party leader with rightwing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seeking another term at the helm ahead of snap elections in March.

The primary, in which 96,651 members are eligible to vote, is the first electoral hurdle for Netanyahu who is hoping to secure a third consecutive term in office.

Israeli police have arrested more than two dozen current and former officials in a corruption probe, including several from the party of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, a police spokeswoman said Thursday.

Local media reported that the investigation was one of the most "important" anti-graft operations in the country's history and could strike a blow to Lieberman's Yisrael Beitenu party just three months away from a general election.

The European Union scrambled to set the record straight on Hamas Wednesday after an EU court ordered the removal of the Palestinian Islamist group from its terror blacklist, infuriating Israel.

The ruling threatened recent Brussels attempts to play a bigger role in reviving the moribund Middle East peace process, with Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu saying it showed Europeans had learned nothing from the Holocaust.