Jewish groups call for strong gesture from government amid rising anti-Semitism

Jewish groups call for strong gesture from government amid rising anti-Semitism
Credit: Belga

The Coordination Committee of Jewish Organisations in Belgium (CCOJB) has come out in favour of a public expression of rejection against rising anti-Semitism.

CCOJB feels the nation’s governments should take firm action.

“There should be a strong response in Belgium to the significant increase in reports of anti-Semitic acts,” said CCOJB President Yves Ochinsky. “The situation is explosive; we must defuse the tension, not import the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into Belgium.

“A bold stand is required to convey to the populace that the war is not happening in Belgium. Here, we must advocate for peace and togetherness,” Ochinsky explained.

He said he was “impressed” by a call for a civic march against anti-Semitism issued in France on 8 November by the presidents of the National Assembly and the Senate — a call replicated in Belgium by member of parliament Denis Ducarme (MR).

In one month, the Inter-federal Center for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism (UNIA) has recorded 52 indications related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, 19 from French speakers and 33 from Dutch speakers.

In 43 instances, Jewish ancestry was explicitly mentioned.

The majority of notifications concerned hate speech, with two cases of a hate crime (an attack at Ypres station and the hurling of objects from a balcony in Antwerp at Jewish individuals). By way of comparison, UNIA received 4 to 5 notifications of anti-Semitism per month in 2022.

“The Jewish community is fearful in the current climate,” Ochinsky warned. “There has never been such collective and strong fear.

“There is objectively a significant rise in anti-Semitic acts, creating a sense of discomfort, reminiscent of what our parents and grandparents might have felt in the 1930s. For the first time, we’re getting a sense of what they may have experienced in such vivid detail,” he added.


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