European Rabbi Says EU Leaders ‘Bury their Heads in the Sand’

European Jewish Association Rabbi Menachem Margolin said Sunday that European Union leaders have a tendency to “bury their heads in the sand” and demanded tighter security to protect Jews.

Speaking after the murder of a volunteer Jewish guard shot and killed by a terrorist at a synagogue Bar Mitzvah celebration, Rabbi Margolin added, “European leaders need to support us in fighting the battle on terror in our homeland.

“It is only because of the earlier shooting that took place in the Copenhagen cafe that police sent several officers to the synagogue, and they were able to return fire and chase the shooter.

“But the fact is that prior to the earlier incident, there were no police in the synagogue.”

Rabbi Margolin called on Muslim leaders across Europe to speak out against extremism.

“The alarms were already sounded last August when a Jewish school in Copenhagen was stoned and sprayed with anti-Semitic graffiti,” said Rabbi Margolin. “We call on European Governments, as well as EU institutions, to heed our calls for the establishment of a Pan -European task force in order to increase security around Jewish institutions and enhance education against the rampant anti-Semitism.”

Rabbi Margolin noted that in the aftermath of this latest attack, the EJA’s planned seminar next week in Prague, at which dozens of rabbis and Jewish community leaders from across the continent will meet, will offer training in basic self-defense and first aid.