The Tablet is reporting that the sole Jewish radio station in Copenhagen has gone off the air, at least temporarily. Also closed in Copenhagen is one of the oldest Jewish schools in the world.
Radio Shalom broadcasts Jewish news, culture, and music and did not air on Monday night for the first time in the station’s history. Station chief Abraham Kopenhagen told the Danish paper DR Nyheder that state security services told him it was too dangerous for them to broadcast given the recent deadly attacks against Jews in the capital city of Denmark. “We do not think it is too dangerous,” he said, “but we respect the information we are given.” The station did not want to broadcast with a police guard in front of the building.
The closure follows the deadly Islamic attacks at a Copenhagen café hosting a conference on free speech, and the shooting at a Copenhagen Synagogue shortly afterwards. Two lives were taken in the two attacks.
The other iconic Jewish institution to close is Copenhagen’s Caroline School, said to be one of the oldest Jewish schools in the world. The school has been under pressure for months. Last August, school administrators told its students they could not wear Jewish religious symbols.
A year ago, Danish journalist Martin Krasnik put on a yarmulke and took a stroll through a lower middle class section of Copenhagen. The Israeli Ambassador to Denmark had warned Jewish travelers not to be visibly Jewish. Krasnik found the Israeli Ambassador was correct. Krasnik was verbally assaulted numerous times and threatened with attack for being Jewish. This experiment was repeated on videotape last week in Paris with the exact same results, threats of violence against a visible Jew by Muslim immigrants.
Jews are nervous all over Europe, as violence against them rises. There is now a discernible population of Jews leaving for London, New York, and Israel.