Copenhagen Attacks: European Jewish group seeks 24/7 protection

A European Jewish group has demanded round-the-clock protection at Jewish institutions following the shooting attacks in Denmark at a synagogue and free speech event that left two people dead.

Rabbi Menachem Margolin, general director of the European Jewish Association, accused EU leaders of not doing enough to combat anti-Semitic attacks and prejudices. Margolin said there was a need to “secure all Jewish institutions 24/7”, and demanded European governments and EU institutions take action.

The call came as hundreds of graves were vandalised at a Jewish cemetery in eastern France, in what the president called an “odious and barbaric” anti-Semitic act against French values.

The vandalism comes at a time of growing insecurity among French Jews and amid general religious tensions in Europe

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said that a criminal investigation team was at the damaged cemetery in Sarre-Union, near the German border, and authorities will do “everything” to pursue the vandals.

Jewish and Muslim gravesites and places of worship in France see sporadic but frequent vandalism. The latest incident was of an unusually large scale, and hit a cemetery that has been vandalised in the past.

Local media reported that about 200 gravestones were knocked down, and a monument to Holocaust victims was damaged.

French President Francois Hollande said that “France is determined to fight relentlessly against anti-Semitism and those who want to attack the nation’s values”.

On Thursday, EU leaders agreed to dramatically step up co-operation in the counter-terrorism field, following the attacks in Paris last month that killed 17. One of the targets was a kosher supermarket where four hostages, all of them Jewish, were killed.

The three gunmen involved in the Paris attacks, all of whom were shot dead by police, claimed to be acting on behalf of extremist Muslim organisations.

Following Saturday’s attacks in Denmark, EU president Donald Tusk said the latest acts of violence would only strengthen Europeans’ resolve to fight all kinds of extremism and terrorism.