The president of the European Jewish Congress (EJC) has warned of “a very dark period for the Jews in Europe.”
Moshe Kantor said: “Small Jewish communities are facing a situation where they are being physically, verbally and psychologically threatened by fundamentalist elements and their extreme left-wing cohorts on one side and the far-right neo-Nazis on the other.”
Following attacks on small communities across Europe, including an incident where a bloodied pig’s head was left in front of a Lithuanian synagogue, Mr Kantor said more protection was necessary.
He pointed to the city of Malmö in Sweden, where 79 crimes against Jewish residents were reported to police in 2009 – double the figure for 2008.