A Second World War resistance memorial ceremony last weekend ended in controversy after Uccle Mayor Boris Dilliès made comments accusing the French-speaking Free University of Brussels (ULB) of antisemitism, RTBF reports.
The family of Brussels resistance fighter, Andrée Geulen, have expressed their shock at the "weaponisation" of their relatives’ commemoration event, which was held on a street which crosses both Ixelles and Uccle municipalities.
In May, Rue Edmond Picard was renamed rue Andrée Geulen, after the resistance member who saved nearly 300 Jews during the Second World War. An event last weekend commemorated her heroic actions.
Among the participants were Uccle Mayor Boris Dilliès (MR) and the ULB chancellor Annemie Schaus, who wanted to participate after having launched a non-profit organisation named after Andrée Geulen with their Dutch-speaking counterparts at VUB.
However, when she was thanked for attending by the Ixelles Mayor Romain De Reusme (PS), a section of the crowd booed her. "I was shocked," Schaus told RTBF, "but I stayed."
Then, the Uccle mayor took to the microphone.
"He immediately said that Jews were afraid and that they were no longer welcome at parties or at the Free University of Brussels," she said. "And so, that clearly means that he considers the ULB to be anti-Semitic."
After Dilliès was applauded and the ULB chancellor was booed, Schaus walked out of the event, saying it "it was too hard".
ULB chancellor Annemie Schaus pictured during a ceremony for the new academic year 2020-2021 of the ULB (Universite Libre de Bruxelles) university and the installation of the new rector, Friday 11 September 2020 in Brussels. Credit: Belga
The chancellor did not deny antisemitism exists and that Jews have feelings of insecurity, but she countered by saying she had filed criminal complaints and disciplinary proceedings whenever a case came up.
"The university is not antisemitic," she argues. "I deny that the ULB is sympathetic to antisemitism. I refute this vehemently and vigorously."
The family of Andrée Geulen, including children and grandchildren, also called out the mayor's "weaponisation" of a memorial event to make a political point.
"Boris Dilliès, MR mayor of Uccle, took advantage of his status and his speech to advance his position on the political chessboard, accusing the ULB of being an antisemitic university and, without naming her, dragging through the mud… the rector of the ULB, Annemie Schaus. This regrettable controversy had no place at this event,” the family wrote on social.
'Concerns of the community'
The Mayor of Uccle has rowed back on his comments, denying that he accused the ULB of antisemitism.
He claims to have simply relayed the concerns of part of the Jewish community that they no longer welcome in certain institutions since the war in Gaza.
Uccle mayor Boris Dillies takes the oath during a ceremony for the new mayors of the Brussels Capital Region, Friday 29 November 2024, in Brussels. Credit: Belga
His aim, he said, was to denounce the growing antisemitism in Brussels, which he considers worrying and uninhibited. He regretted that his comments had been interpreted as a direct attack on ULB.
The ULB chancellor responded: "Hatred knows no bounds. Above all, statements made without any evidence or proof are becoming increasingly violent."
Schaus also referred to the controversy around the students naming their graduate class after a French radical left MEP Rima Hassan, who is of Palestinian origin and has been accused of having controversial views on Hamas.
"The attacks suffered by the students are absolutely unacceptable," she protests.
"There is sometimes racist stigmatisation, as the first names of some of them have been published in an attempt to show that this is obviously because the Arab population is in the majority in the law faculty. This is absolutely unacceptable and the ULB has filed a complaint."
Since 2023, ULB students have vocally protested the war in Gaza, with the occupation of buildings by students, an increase in polarised debates, accusations of antisemitism, and threats requiring added security measures.
