Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Didier Reynders promised a Jewish delegation that the fight against anti-Semitism and against radicalisation of a growing number of people coming back from fighting in Syria and Iraq will be among the priorities in the programme of the country’s new government.
During the meeting, Rabbi Menachem Margolin, Director General of the European Jewish Association (EJA), who led the delegation, expressed concern about the future of Jewish life in Europe at a time when wearing a kippah in the street of a European city has become dangerous.
Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs, chief rabbi of the Netherlands, emphasized that 40 years ago he didn’t hear like today ‘Dirty Jew’ shouted in the streets of his country.
‘’Today a lot of Jews want to leave Europe because they are worried about their future. But I want them to stay,’’ he added, stressing that the problem of anti-Semitism can only be solved through education. ‘’People should accept to live in a multicultural society and accept the other’s way of living.’’
‘’The society must protect all minorities. Seeing people shouting ‘death to Jws’ in the street of Brussels is a big failure of our democracy,’’ said Joel Rubinfeld, President of the Belgian League Against Anti-Semitism (LBCA). ‘’Zero-tolerance must be in the programme of the next Belgian government,’’ he added. He mentioned that around 500 Jews in Belgium are expected to leave the country this year for Israel but also for the US and Canada.
The meeting with the Jewish delegation took place one day after an arson attack on a synagogue in Brussels and four months after the shooting at the Jewish Museum in the same city which left four people dead.
‘’I can’t imagine that the fire at the synagogue wasn’t an anti-Semitic act. It’s evident,’’ the Minister said.
He emphasized that while sanctions and repression are an important part of the fight against radicalisation, prevention is essential even if it’s a very difficult task.’’ ‘’We need the participation of all communities in Belgium in a programme aimed at protecting our European values of human rights. For that we need to convince all the communities to come on board and share the same values ,’’ he said.
In response to the minister’s remark, Rabbi Margolin suggested to help organize a meeting with the government, Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities.
The Jewish delegation also included Rabbi Tawil, Director of the European Jewish Community Center (EJCC) and Yossi Lempkowicz, Director and Cheif Editor of the European Jewish Press.