Bar anti-Semitic Muslim clergyman from Belgium, watchdog urges

(JTA) — A Belgian watchdog on anti-Semitism asked the government to block a Kuwaiti preacher who called for Jews to be eradicated from attending an Islamic conference in Brussels.

Tarek al-Swaidan, a leader of Kuwait’s branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, is expected to attend the Muslim Forum of Brussels on Nov. 7, the Belgian League Against Anti-Semitism, or LBCA, said in a statement Wednesday.

The group motioned the Belgian Foreign Ministry to block his entrance into the country.

“An open anti-Semite, he declared only last July that the State of Israel must be destroyed along with all the Jews,” the LBCA statement said.

The statement, which was sent to reporters and supporters, includes a collection of links to YouTube videos of Swaidan’s sermons. In one he is seen saying, “Every Muslim mother raised her children on hate for the sons of Zion so that a new generation would rise to sweep them off the face of the earth.”

In May, four people were killed during an armed attack on the Jewish Museum of Belgium in central Brussels. French and Belgian security services believe the shooter was Mehdi Nemmouche, a French Sunni Muslim who is believed to have fought with other jihadists in Syria.

Nemmouche, who is standing trial in Belgium after being caught in southern France with an automatic rifle, has denied the allegations.

On Monday, LBCA’s complaint against a local politician from the town of Crainhem who denied the existence of gas chambers led to his removal from the ranks of the Humanist Democratic Centre party, Le Soir reported.

Thierry Van De Plas, who is in charge of the town’s Works and Sports Committee, wrote recently on Facebook that after researching the Holocaust, he has concluded that “the gas chambers are load of crap.”

His former party has asked the town council to remove him from his position.