Pro-Palestinian protesters waived Hezbollah flags and shouted in support of ‘’Hamas Jihad’’ during a rally in the center of Brussels Friday afternoon, according to witnesses.
The demonstration of around 400 people, mainly Muslims, against Israel’s military operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip happened amid a wave of anti-Semitic attacks in Western European cpountrires that coincided with the Gaza events.
The Brussels rally, organized by a ‘’Citizen Movement Palestine’’ was finally authorized by the city’s authorities under several strict conditions : no slogans against any community, no flags of movements listed by the EU as terror organisations. Hezbollah's military wing is on this EU terror list.
But according to one witness, police didn’t intervene against protesters defying these conditions.
The Belgian League Against Anti-Semitism (LBCA) had requested a ban of the rally because of ''grave risks to public order, incitement to hatred and support for terrorism.’’
Last week, during a similar demonstration in Brussels Israeli flags were burned while protesters shouted ‘’kill the Jews’’.
In Antwerp, Belgium’s second largest city, a protest saw one one of the speakers used a loudspeaker to chant a call in Arabic that means “slaughter the Jews.”
World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder declared this week that attacks and incitement against Jews have reached an alarming level not seen in many countries since WWII, in the wake of Israel’s Gaza operation.
Sunday, a demonstration of solidarity with the state of Israel will be organized in front of Israel’s embassy in the Belgian capital. ‘’We must tell Belgian political leaders that it’s time to act against slogans of hatred heard during the latest pro-Palestinian rallies. The Belgian Jewish community is in danger,’’ one organizer said.