French soldiers guard a Jewish institution (file)
French soldiers guard a Jewish institution (file)Reuters

Federica Mogherni, who has headed the foreign policy department of the European Union (EU) for only five months, has recommended the formation of a EU task-force against anti-Semitism.

“I transferred the idea as a policy recommendation to EU Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans," Mogherni declared last week. "[He] has the formal authority in this issue, and we are already working on various initiatives."

It was not made clear what authorities the task-force would hold. Some European groups, however, have called for the formation of such a body.

Some also want the position of "European Commissioner responsible for fighting anti-Semitism" to be created, based on the model of the U.S. Special Representative for Combating anti-Semitism in the State Department.

Anti-Semitic violence and incitement has been on the rise throughout the continent in recent years. It came to a dramatic head two months ago with the murderous attack in a kosher deli in Paris by an Islamist terrorist in which four Jews were killed, followed soon after by the terrorist murder of a guard at a synagogue in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Last May, four people were murdered outside the Jewish Museum in Brussels; the attack was perpetrated by a French radical Islamist recently returned from Syria.

Speaking at a memorial ceremony at the EU Jewish building for the victims of the recent Paris terror attacks, Timmermans stated clearly, "The most disturbing news I got recently, which quite literally keeps we awake at night, is that a majority in the Jewish communities in France and the United Kingdom say they don't know if there is a future for them in Europe.’’

Some 7,000 French Jews moved to Israel in 2014 – a full 1% of the entire French Jewish population.

 ‘’If there is no future for Jews in Europe, there is no future for Europe,’’ Timmermans warned.

It was reported just this month that a number of Dutch schools refrain from teaching about the Holocaust because of resistance from Muslim pupils, teachers told lawmakers in the Netherlands. 

Abraham H. Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), approves of the idea of a task-force.

"The terror attacks in Paris and Copenhagen, and the widespread anti-Semitic attacks last summer, demand a high-level response," Foxman said, according to European Jewish Press, "and that response must encompass the entire European Union."

“Some national governments are taking important steps to address anti-Semitism, but action is also required at the EU level for Europe’s Jews to truly feel more secure," he added.