A prominent Jewish organization in Europe is petitioning the European Union to allow members of the Jewish community to carry guns "for the essential protection of their communities," according to the
Washington Free Beacon.
The European Jewish Association is pressing for new legislation that would change the gun license laws after a series of deadly attacks on Jews across Europe, most recently during the Paris terrorist hostage siege which killed four Jews in a kosher market.
Rabbi Menachem Margolin, the group's general director, said in a letter to EU leaders that the recent attacks "have revealed the urgent need to stop talking and start acting."
He said the EU should
empower and train Jews to handle firearms as a means of protecting themselves.
"We hereby ask that gun licensing laws are reviewed with immediate effect to allow designated people in the Jewish communities and institutions to own weapons for the essential protection of their communities, as well as receiving the necessary training to protect their members from potential terror attacks," Margolin wrote.
He added in the letter that any changes to the gun laws can be made in a safe and effective way, and that weapons are issued for self-protection only and to designated personnel who would be thoroughly investigated and trained.
Margolin told the Free Beacon that he and the EJA have long been warning about the growth of anti-Semitism in Europe, which he said poses a direct threat to the Jewish population there.
There has been a "dramatic increase in anti-Semitism in Europe," he told the Free Beacon. "We demanded from the European governments some time ago that action should be taken [and] were not surprised to see the results in Paris."
After the deadly attack in Paris, as many as 15,000 Jews are expected to leave France and immigrate to Israel, said the Jewish Agency, according to the U.K.'s
Daily Telegraph. Half that number left last year.
Many Jews are living in fear since the attacks, and are not going to synagogues and kosher places, Margolin said.
"We realize that we also have to do something to take responsibility in case it takes too long" for authorities to put in place defenses to protect Jews, Margolin said, adding that armed members of the Jewish community should be stationed at popular public locations.
"The European Jewish Association has long and publicly warned European governments of the need to clamp down firmly on any and all acts of terror wherever and whenever they arise," the letter says.
"As you know, the danger is that much greater as many Europeans travel abroad to be indoctrinated into radical Islam, before returning to their European homelands to use their militant training to devastating effect."
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