People take part in pro-Hamas protest in Brussels, Belgium, Nov. 11, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Yves Herman

A top European Rabbi is calling on Israel to “develop a practical contingency plan for the absorption of European Jewry in Israel,” as antisemitism spreads across the continent.

“We are in a battle for the continuation of Jewish life in Europe,” European Jewish Association (EJA) Chairman Rabbi Menachem Margolin said last week. “Jews in traditional dress or those with mezuzahs on their doors are experiencing relentless harassment. Jewish students face threats to their lives and are excluded from university courses, while hate slogans are freely scrawled on Jewish homes, synagogues, and cemeteries.”

Margolin said that the EJA is working on formulating an emergency plan to fight antisemitism “on all fronts: politically, legally, publicly, and by increasing community and personal security.” But he warned that European Jewry’s efforts may fall short.

“Unfortunately, this is no longer a hypothetical situation but a real existential threat that European governments are failing or unwilling to address,” he said.

Antisemitic attitudes remain alarmingly high across Europe — particularly after Hamas’ Oct. 7 onslaught against Israel — with one in four Europeans harboring antisemitic prejudices according to an Anti-Defamation League (ADL) survey published last year before the Gaza war.

Since Oct. 7, the number of antisemitic incidents has skyrocketed to record highs in several countries.

In November, the executive body of the European Union issued a forthright condemnation of rising antisemitism across the continent, declaring that hatred of Jews “goes against everything which Europe stands for.”

The statement cited a handful of the thousands of incidents targeting Jews in EU member states. “Molotov cocktails thrown at a synagogue in Germany, Stars of David sprayed at residential buildings in France, a Jewish cemetery desecrated in Austria, Jewish stores and synagogues attacked in Spain, demonstrators chanting hateful slogans against Jews,” the statement noted.

Last month, a 64-year-old Israel tourist was attacked by a mob in the Belgian city of Bruges and suffered a broken jaw after he and his daughter removed an anti-Israel sticker in a train station.

Margolin’s comments came after the EJA inaugurated a new self-defense program teaching Jews how to fight back against violent antisemitism.

Last week over 100 heads of Jewish communities from across Europe participated in a self-defense and knife attack neutralization workshop as part of an emergency EJA conference.

The training session was intended to “formulate operational methods to combat the harassment of Jews across Europe and the rising tide of antisemitic hate since October,” the organization said in a press release.