Wave of anti-Semitic acts hit Belgium

January 7, 2009

BRUSSELS (JTA) -- Anti-Semitic incidents in Belgium have surged in the wake of Israel's operation in the Gaza Strip.

A Molotov cocktail was thrown Monday at the Beth Hillel Liberal synagogue in Brussels only hours after the windows of the synagogue in Charleroi, about 30 miles south of the capital, were broken with rocks for the second time in a week.

On Sunday evening, anti-Israel demonstration in Brussels with about 350 protesters included the shouting of anti-Semitic slogans. Also Sunday, a Jewish school in the city was the target of rocks and other objects in an attack recorded on the school's security system. On Saturday, the home of a Jewish family was the target of an arson attempt.

Flemish community organizations and leaders have received death threats. The community's security organizations, as well as local police forces, are on heightened alert in Jewish areas and around Jewish community buildings.

The umbrella organizations of the Jewish community, the Coordinating Committee of Jewish Organizations in Belgium and the Forum of Jewish Organizations in Flanders, have requested meetings with the interior minister to insist on action to protect the community.

"We demand to know from the government that all necessary measures be taken to investigate, bring to justice and punish those responsible for these anti-Semitic acts," said Joel Rubinfeld, the president of the Coordinating Committee. "These acts gravely damage the peace in our country."

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