Netanyahu Asks France to Keep High Security at Jewish Sites

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.

"Our hearts are with the families of the victims. Israel offers you any help that France may need," the sources quoted Netanyahu as saying.

Earlier, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Israel was following with concern what he called the "terror offensive" in France.

"The terrorist offensive taking place over the past three days is not only against the French people or France's Jews but against the entire free world," Lieberman's spokesman quoted him as saying.

"This is another attempt by the forces of darkness of extremist Islam to impose fear and terror on the West, and the entire international community must stand determinedly as a bulwark against this terror," said Lieberman.

French elite forces stormed two hostage sites Friday, killing two brothers behind Wednesday's Charlie Hebdo massacre and a third jihadist ally who stormed the kosher supermarket in an incident that claimed the lives of four hostages.