Rabbi urges Europe to arm Jewish communities
Rabbi Menachem Margolin, the director of the European
Jewish Association, the largest Jewish federation in Europe, has called on the
European governments to allow synagogues, kosher shops and Jewish property to
be authorised to carry guns in response to fears of rising anti-Semitism.
“The Paris attacks, as well as the many challenges and
threats which have been presented to the European Jewish community in recent
years, have revealed the urgent need to stop talking and start acting,” says a
letter written this week by Rabbi Menachem Margolin
Newsweek magazine’s Catherine Phillips asked for
clarification from Margolin. The Rabbi told her that as many people within the
Jewish community as possible should carry weapons. He told her that a license
to carry would provide people in the Jewish community with a sense of security
that is sorely lacking in Europe, particularly in light of recent events.
One of those critical of Margolin’s proposal is Rabbi
Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, who said that a
handgun would have been of little value in the Paris shootings:
As to personally being armed, such a move could help when a
Jewish person is threatened by thugs, but won’t help if — God forbid —
Charlie-type terror attacks are launched.
A delegation from the European Jewish Congress spoke to EU
foreign policy Chief Federica Mogherini on Wednesday, calling on Brussels to
create a pan-European body to combat anti-Semitism.
“Now more than ever, the European Union needs to create a
position and organization specifically geared toward finding long-lasting
solutions for anti-Semitism and other forms of racism,” EJC president Dr Moshe
Kantor said.
Kantor added that it is “incumbent on the European
Union to urgently place combating anti-Semitism as one of its highest
priorities because this is a hatred that transcends borders and cannot be dealt
with by any single nation on its own.”
