Less than a month ago I went to a synagogue in Paris. To get in I had to be buzzed through the outer doors, be wanded by two burly men and then there was a squad of soldiers with automatic weapons at the courtyard doors.
Years ago going to a synagogue in Sydney involved similar passage through several layers of physical security.
Its not that uncommon for synagogues in the US to have off duty police or private security teams outside.
I figure some places are lucky that they dont actually require heavily armed military forces to guard synagogues against would be attackers, that law enforcement is proactive enough to remove these threat agents before hand.
I also figure that non-Jews are very lucky that their places of gathering dont have to worry about this stuff and instead they can enjoy speculating how law enforcement is probably the one in the wrong when it comes to these things.
