“I have received dozens of complaints from communities where, for the first time in decades, they did not hold prayer services in their shuls because of pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the vicinity,” declared RCE director Rabbi Menachem Margolin. The European Union’s ministers of education have been instructed to schedule at least one hour a month to teach the students about anti-Semitism and xenophobia.

“We are witness to the dangerous collusion of the far-left in France with Islamic groups. I fear that there will be more tragedies such as those that took place in Toulouse and Brussels,” Rabbi Menachem Margolin stated in response to the pro-Palestinian demonstrations taking place at this time in France to protest Israel’s Protective Edge military campaign in Gaza.

At the height of these pro-Palestinian demonstrations, violence broke out yesterday in Paris, as thousands of demonstrators lay siege to a synagogue in the capital’s 11th arrondissement while the Jewish worshippers were trapped within. In the end, the Jews were escorted to safety by a heavily armed police detail.

Rabbi Margolin pointed out that in recent days these dangerous events have become quite common in Europe and very worrisome. “I have received dozens of complaints from communities where, for the first time in decades, they did not hold prayer services in their synagogues because of pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the vicinity,” he said. “Today, in 2014, Jews find themselves trapped in synagogues while thousands of people outside are screaming, ‘Death to the Jews,’ and, ‘We will kill you.’”

Europe has not taken Rabbi Margolin’s warning lightly. In the aftermath of the anti-Israel demonstrations, some of which were based on classic anti-Semitism, Ms. Androulla Vassiliou, the European Commissioner for Education, instructed the European Union ministers of education to devote at least one hour a month to the issue of anti-Semitism and xenophobia. This motion was recommended by the European Jewish Association (EJA), and it was subsequently passed.

Commissioner Vassiliou wrote: “Our duties in educating our youth include the solemn task of imparting our common European values to them and the protection of democracy and pluralism in our societies…. The battle against racism, xenophobia, and discrimination must begin with our young children. Our schools are the ideal venue for promoting tolerance and mutual respect.”

Rabbi Binyamin Jacobs, Chief Rabbi of the Netherlands (IPOR) and chairman of Holland’s Rabbinical Council, participated in the meeting with the commissioner. He stressed that she and her office staff listened attentively to the EJA’s message and assured him that their position was against these demonstrations and that they rejected all expressions of anti-Semitism.

Rabbi Margolin thanked the commissioner for her initiative, adding that, “Educating the youth is the key to preventing more hate crimes and anti-Semitic incidents, such as the attack in Brussel’s Jewish museum.”