Jewish leaders from across the diaspora have told European governments of an unprecedented need to divert resources towards communal security in the face of growing antisemitism and terrorism.

Their warning was issued in Berlin at a meeting of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which has 57 member states.

It followed an EU poll of 6,000 European Jews in which 20 per cent said they avoided attending Jewish events out of fear of antisemitic incidents.

The Jewish leaders pointed to a big rise in attacks, some of which had been halted by the police while others, such as the 2012 attack on a Jewish school in Toulouse, resulted in loss of life.

Some countries, notably Britain, France and Germany, allocated major sums towards Jewish security, the conference heard, while elsewhere the costs fell on the Jewish community.

Security expert Paul Goldenberg, the national director of the homeland security network (SCN) of the Jewish Federations of North America, said that Jewish communities have had to divert millions of dollars to security. “This is not because they want to, but because they have to”.