The Danish government has dispatched armed troops to man Jewish places of worship and the Israeli embassy in Copenhagen following a dramatic rise in anti-Semitism and an increased terror threat across the country.
From Wednesday, firearms units will guard synagogues in an attempt to provide further assurances to an increasingly insecure Jewish community.
“The conflict in the Middle East has led to a completely unacceptable increase in anti-Semitism and insecurity for Jews in Denmark,” Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard said, as cited by the Copenhagen Post.
“We’re in a situation where the terrorist threat hanging over Denmark is serious,” he warned
The justice minister explained the move to utilize the country’s armed forces would “free up more hands for other important police tasks” including the policing of pro-Palestinian protests which the defense ministry has admitted are stretching police resources.
Anti-Semitic hate crimes have sky-rocketed across Denmark since the Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel by Hamas. Holocaust memorials honoring Danish Jews have been defaced and the country’s chief rabbi was assaulted and spat at in public as he traveled to a TV interview last month.
As seen across many major cities in Western Europe, anti-Israel protesters have taken to the streets calling for Palestine to be released from its illegal Israeli occupation with Islamic extremists calling for the Israeli ‘problem’ to be solved with jihad.
There is an enlarged Jewish community of around 8,400 people living in Denmark, according to the Institute for Jewish Policy Research with the country’s core Jewish population size ranking 31st in the world.
