SELF-DEFENSE: Attempted pogrom thwarted by Jewish self-defense groups. “This sounds like a headline from Tzarist Russia in 1910, but in fact it was last week in Paris. A group of anti-Israel demonstrators tried to storm a synagogue, but Jews had their own undercover agents at the protests so they could raise the alarm if any of the protestors started to engage in violence. They did so, and the rioters were beaten back by a combination of ‘right-wing’ Jewish youth groups and communal security. Unlike is Tzarist Russia, the authorities aren’t on the side of the attackers, and they eventually arrived in sufficient numbers to disperse the attackers.”

If I had a synagogue in Europe, it would have flamethrowers.