The appalling terrorist attacks in Paris last week are just the latest example of the apocalyptic terrorism that jihadists want to bring to our cities.
The previous attacks in Paris last January, at Charlie Hebdo and the Hyper Cacher supermarket, led to reams of newspaper commentary trying to explain why jihadists might want to kill cartoonists and Jews. Sadly, we are all too familiar with the latter problem, which is why Community Security Trust does the work that it does.
These latest attacks, though, make it clear: every aspect of Western life is considered fair game by the jihadists. Restaurants, bars, concerts and football matches are now added to trains, buses, planes, synagogues, schools, shopping centres and any other busy place in a European city as potential targets.
The jihadists want us to feel like nowhere is safe. The challenge for the police is that it is impossible to have armed guards on every bus, every train carriage, every shop door, every bar and so on.
The police and security services do an excellent job of preventing attacks, many of which we never even hear about. Even so, it is likely that every now and again, as in Paris, an attack will manage to slip through the net.
This is why the resilience of communities is so important. After the attacks in Paris I received calls from Greg Clark MP, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, and from Commander Mak Chishty at the Metropolitan Police. CST also spoke to Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan at Greater Manchester Police, who is the national police lead for Jewish communities.
Their support, both rhetorical and practical, is welcome in reassuring the Jewish community that the authorities are aware of the threat we face and will commit resources to protect us.
Nobody can guarantee that there will not be an attack in the UK, but at least we know that we are not alone in facing this terrorist threat.
