Attack on the Israeli Embassy in Denmark a few weeks ago.

Israeli and Jewish officials in Denmark are urging local Jews not to wear identifying religious in public, due troubling rise in anti-Semitic incidents. This comes during the holiday of Chanukah whose main premise is to spread the light and message.

Jews Urged Not To Wear Religious Symbols In Public

Attack on the Israeli Embassy in Denmark a few weeks ago.

Israeli and Jewish officials in Denmark are urging local Jews not to wear identifying religious in public, due troubling rise in anti-Semitic incidents. This comes during the holiday of Chanukah whose main premise is to spread the light and message.

AFP

Israeli and Jewish officials in Denmark on Wednesday warned Jews to avoid openly wearing religious symbols and dress when moving about Copenhagen amid rising anti-Israeli sentiment.

“We advise Israelis who come to Denmark and want to go to the synagogue to wait to don their skull caps until they enter the building and not to wear them in the street, irrespective of whether the areas they are visiting are seen as being safe,” Israel’s ambassador to Denmark, Arthur Avnon, told AFP.

Avnon added that visitors were also advised not to “speak Hebrew loudly” or demonstrably wear Star of David jewellery.

Denmark’s national Jewish Religious Community organization has also advised its members, and those at the private Jewish school in Copenhagen, to exercise caution.

Caroline Jewish School headmaster Jan Hansen told daily Jyllands-Posten: “It is not something that we do officially, but if the issue comes up we would say (to our pupils) they should think twice before walking into certain areas of Copenhagen with a skull cap or Star of David.”

The warnings come a few weeks after an attack on the Israeli embassy in Copenhagen in the wake of increasing cross-border tensions between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and Israeli plans to expand settlements.

Some 20 demonstrators lobbed stones and fireworks at the embassy building on November 19. Graffiti with the word “childkillers” was painted on the embassy entrance wall.

No one was hurt in the incident and one person has since been charged in the attack.

Avnon said that after the attack, a lower-ranking officer from Denmark’s foreign ministry had called the embassy offering to pay for some of the damage to the building, but that otherwise official Denmark had not reacted to the incident.

According to figures from the Jewish Belief Centre (Mosaisk Trossamfund), the organization has received 37 reports of anti-Jewish incidents this year, predominantly in the heavily immigrant Noerrebro neighbourhood and around the Jewish synagogue in central Copenhagen.

Denmark’s Jewish community is estimated at between 6,000 and 8,000 people.

5 Comments

  • bochrim in copenhagen

    I am one of three buchrim that are here in copenhagen NOW helping the community over chanukah. Over the course of chanukah so far, we saw first hand, the tireless hours of work of the amazing shluchim here, Rabbi yitzi and rochel, together with thier buetiful family. Every single day their has been another program, with a completely difrent fresh crowd. Monday night there was a major public menorah lighting with a brand new 5 meter high menorah, standing in front of the main square, Copenhagen in front of the city hall town center!!! Over 400 adults and children gathered together AS THE LIGHT OF CHANUKAH AND THE JEWISH PRIDE OF DENMARK SHINED THRU THE STREETS!!!the menorah has been there all week long being kindled at the right time each night!! the chabad is actually in the same building where just 50 some years ago was ran by the gustapo headquarters; and now a up and running, always busy chabad huset! Me and my fellow bochrim have been walking around proud; menorah on top; and have not seen anti semitism at all on the contrary the jewish people and the non jews have been so warm, welcoming and enthuastic!! the mesiras nefesh and the decitation the shliach has here is like none other in world! they have been poel a huge amount so far and may they have the strenght to continue till the coming of moshiach!!
    (p.s. for those who dont know history u should check on the story of the danish jews and how danes always treated the jews!!!!)

  • Anya Chana Raben

    @ no 1: we are glad that you and the yeshiva boys, are there to help out with all the work:) BH. Im from Denmark and I live at Beis Chabad upstairs from Yitzi and sweet Rochel:), which mean im always around, giving a hand. And yes, it’s important that people understand and get to know, the very profound history that and bond there’s is between the danes and the danish jews.(the only country in the world that saved all their jews, by collective effort) Having said that, the winds of hatred are sweeping the europain continent, and yes im afraid that we have to face, that we live in times where we have to take a stand and make demands, for a better and hole some world. Happy Chanukah. AR.

  • Milhouse

    <i>(p.s. for those who dont know history u should check on the story of the danish jews and how danes always treated the jews!!!!)</i>

    Only their own Jews. They had no problem handing foreign Jews over to the Nazis.

    And no, the king did NOT wear a yellow star.

  • Not mentioned in article

    Just to clarify: These hateful and violent acts are being perpetrated by Muslims, not ethnic Danes.

    So yeah, the Danes are pretty decent human beings especially when one considers their actions during WW2 but they are becoming a silent majority while the very vocal Muslim minority is doing what they do best namely wreaking havoc on civilization.