Synagogues have come under armed attack from Muslim terrorists and white supremacists. However, the politicians and the police sees the synagogues as decorative museum pieces that are used for tourists tours and for some old-fashioned orthodox to pray.

The synagogues tend to be on their own. If the communities whish security guards and fortified entrances, serious weaponry and bulletproof vests they need to pay its own security and the congregants must be coming armed even during Shabbat.

The attack on Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, where four people were taken hostage until they managed to escape unharmed, shows the modern world. The attacker, Malik Faisal Akram, was a British Muslim highly radicalized by the anti-Zionism of the far-left press.

The Britain’s Jewish Chronicle reports that in May last year, during the war batween Israel and the Hamas, Akram spread the message that Jews needed to be punished and should be “bombed.” After that, he was able to enter the United States because of a foul-up by US and Britain’s intelligence services.

Ordinary citizens, carried away by the message of the frenzied press, tend to think that Jews exaggerate their security problems. Synagogues - they say - should be places open and visited by everyone at any time, to promote interculturality. They think that having security guards intimidates other groups who might want to attend the synagogue.

It seems absurd, but it is true.