European Jewish Association Director Rabbi Margolin issued a rousing call to European governments not to become complacent following a period of reprieve from terror attacks in Europe, as he insisted that “no matter if it looks like the situation is more settled, it’s never settled it’s never calm, and we feel the threat and concern, we do feel concern in Europe, and for this reason we would like them to know that they still have to give high level security to all Jewish institutions to make sure the Jews of Europe feel comfortable in their countries”.

Rabbi Margolin spoke to open a self-defense training session at the annual conference of the Rabbinical Centre of Europe in Berlin on Tuesday which initiative he said was important to ensure that “each of the Rabbis here will be able to defend themselves in case of an emergency”. The session, the second of its kind to be hosted at the annual gathering of more than 100 members of the RCE following last year’s successful inaugural training in Prague, he added did not negate European government’s responsibility to secure European Jewry, concluding that “I hope and expect governments to protect European citizens, including the Jewish communities”.

Elsewhere, discussing the recent escalation of anti-Semitism, Rabbi Margolin refuted attempts to attribute rising anti-Jewish attitudes to Europe’s Muslim community as “looking for excuses”. Quoting the recent poll by the Anti-Defamation League on global anti-Semitic attitudes, he added that “you can see that the countries with the highest levels of anti-Semitism are those which have almost no Muslim community – such as Poland, Romania, Hungary, Greece”.

The migrant crisis, he insisted, contributed very little to growing anti-Semitism in Europe, considering that “there are approximately 500 million people in Europe …I wouldn’t say the biggest threat is (migrants) as long as the government understands that it’s something that has to be addressed as soon as possible to educate them in European values”.

Also addressing delegates was Chairman of the Bundestag Dr. Norbert Lammert, who spoke of the surprise at Germany finding itself with a rejuvenated Jewish community half a century after the Holocaust, thanks to immigration from former Soviet countries – this he insisted was not a source of pride given the circumstances, but nevertheless impressive “that this is the new situation in which we find ourselves and we are a bit ashamed that given this background of our common history and experience that we now have again more than 100,000 Jewish people in Germany”.

Announcing a parliamentarian conference for later this month followed by a two-day meeting of national and European parliamentarians from up to 60 countries on the situation of anti-Semitism, he concluded: “Looking to the present situation, in Germany and in Europe, I cannot see any other country in Europe where Jewish people can live more safely than in Germany. Once there was an anti-Semitic country, but today there is a country that acts against anti-Semitism.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)