Two Jewish organisations in Belgium have sent an open letter to Prime Minister Alexander de Croo protesting against the Belgian government’s passivity in condemning and combatting the surge in antisemitism in the country after the 7 October terrorist attack on Israel and the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.
The letter was signed by human rights lawyer Yves Oschinsky, president of the ‘Comité de Coordination des Organisations Juives de Belgique’ (CCOJB), and Baroness Regina Sluzny, President of the Forum der Joodse Organisaties (FJO), herself a Holocaust survivor who was hidden as a child during the war. The two organisations represent a majority of the diverse Jewish community in Belgium.
As previously reported, hate speech and antisemitic incidents take place in the member states, not on EU level. There are member states that have not yet implemented their actions plans or enforced existing legislation against Holocaust denial and antisemitism. In some countries, the Jewish population lives in fear since 7 October.
“I’m proud that we have produced tangible results,” said Margaritis Schinas, Vice-President for Promoting our European Way of Life, at the international Holocaust Remembrance Day in January. “We are working with the Belgian EU-Presidency and international actors to make a difference in Jewish life in Europe.”
The EU stands by its Jewish citizens, he underlined. December last year, the commission adopted a document with a call for action to all Europeans to stand up against hatred in all its form, both on-line and off-line, and speak up for tolerance and respect. Belgium, with its own memory of the Nazi occupation, seems still to be lagging behind.
The Jewish community has old roots in Belgium, is well integrated in the country and has contributed to its development in all areas. Belgium was one of the few countries in Europe which accepted Jews into the army and make a military career to defend the country in the wars in the past. Now the community feels abandoned by the government and lives in deep worry about its safety and future. Some are considering emigrating to Israel despite the current insecurity and uncertainty there.
The letter mentions a number of incautious and disturbing statements by government ministers that deviate from the EU’s common position on the Israel-Hamas war and allegedly are fueling antisemitism in Belgium. Too many people do not distinguish between Israel and the Jews in Belgium and blame them for a war which takes place thousands of kms away.
In October 2021, the European Commission presented an EU strategy on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life in Europe against the backdrop of rising antisemitism in member states fueled by conspiracy theories during the coronavirus crisis and outbreaks of violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Referring to the obligation by all EU member states to develop their own national strategies to combat antisemitism, the letter recalls that Belgium is also supposed to develop a plan on federal level. It might be difficult for Belgium to agree on strategy but other federal countries such as Germany and Austria have done it, Katharina von Schnurbein, EU’s coordinator against antisemitism, commented.
In January this year, Marie-Colline Leroy, the secretary of state for Gender Equality, Equal Opportunities and Diversity, told The Brussels Times that a coordination mechanism composed of federal ministers had been established to speed up actions to prevent antisemitism, especially now when Belgium has taken over the EU Presidency.
“It is time to echo the pressing concerns of Jewish Belgians, it is time to hear them, it is high time to appoint an independent national coordinator and give him the means to finally develop a strategy to fight against antisemitism,” the letter concludes.
In combatting racism and Holocaust denial with legal means, Belgium is taken harsh measures. Dries Van Langenhove, the founder of the far-right movement Schild & Vrienden, was recently sentenced to a one-year effective prison term and the loss of certain civil rights for ten years because of violations of the racism and negationism law.
The cabinet of Prime Minister De Croo did not respond by the time of publication to a request for comment on the open letter.
Not everyone in the Jewish community agrees with the open letter. In another letter on Sunday, a group of members of the community wrote to the Belgian Prime Minister that it believed it to be incorrect to link antisemitic incidents to criticism of Israel by government ministers. Foreign policy and the protection of the Jewish community are separate domains and should not be conflated, this other letter said.
M. Apelblat
The Brussels Times
