A report from Bart Debie: Gaza in Belgium

The report below was just sent to us by Bart Debie, a member of Vlaams Belang. In it he summarizes the recent demonstrations and violent attacks against Jews in Belgium.


Gaza in Belgium

The conflict in Gaza — where Israelis are defending themselves against the non-stop missile attacks of Hamas terrorists — has been brought into and fought over in a lot of European cities. In Belgium violent incidents have been reported these last two weeks, and Jewish citizens became the victims of violence, threats, arson and even an attempt at murder,

On December 31st, 2008, the organization AEL — translated as Arabic-European League (of course, followers of Hamas and Hezbollah) — and known extremists organized a protest march in Antwerp. This city has the biggest Jewish population of Europe. During the demonstration a few hundred masked Muslims gathered in the district of Borgerhout which is located next to the district that houses most of the Jewish community. The protesters were chanting slogans — or rather battle cries — such as “Jews out”, “Hamas”, “Hezbollah”…

Prior to this demonstration, leaflets were handed out in the densely populated Islamic parts of Antwerp, blaming the Jews for the conflict in Gaza. During the march, the protesting Muslims destroyed many shops and cars and two police officers were severely wounded. The protesters wanted to head towards the Jewish diamond shops in the city center, but this was just barely prevented by the police.
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On Saturday, January 3rd, about a hundred Muslims gathered in the historical city center of Antwerp to pledge their allegiance and formulate their sympathy and support for Palestine and the Palestinian cause. The police arrested 95 protesters. Several of them were in the possession of Molotov-cocktails, firearms, and pepper-spray, and they were clearly out to get Jews and attack Jewish targets.

That same night the home of a Jewish family, where 12 children were asleep was set on fire. Fortunately the house was only damaged and nobody was wounded. Arson at night on an inhabited house is a direct attempt at murder for which, according to Belgian law, one can be sentenced to a prison term of 20 years.

In Brussels, the capital of Belgium, the Synagogue Beth Hillel was set on fire. In the Brussels city center a protest march turned into riots between Muslims and the police. Shop windows were destroyed and cars were wrecked. As this happened in the early afternoon, lots of people were out shopping as this was the first day of winter sales, and storekeepers had to lock their doors, keeping the shoppers inside just to protect them.

The McDonald’s restaurant was completely turned into ruins.

Not only the AEL, Arabic-European League, is responsible for this trail of destruction and violence against Jewish citizens and Jewish targets in Belgium. Several — at this time unknown — extremist Islamic organizations are mobilizing Muslims via text message (sms) to attack Jewish targets, to protest in the streets, to cause riots and abolish anything that could be linked to the Jewish community.

Even the known organization “Composantes de la Communauté Arabe de Belgique” (CoCABe) assembled 3,000 Muslims in Brussels to express their support to Palestine and to chant anti-Jewish slogans.

Meanwhile several death threats were made against Jewish schools, synagogues, and the editors of Jewish magazines. The Ministry of Internal Affairs in Belgium and the police have raised their vigilance as it is certain that these next days and weeks the anti-Jewish violence in this country will only increase.

Bart Debie
Former police superintendent