Belgium 2004
After a notable decrease in 2003, the
year 2004 witnessed a considerable rise in antisemitic manifestations (46). The
year also was a turning point in official and NGO attitudes toward
‘Arab’/’Muslim’ antisemitism, with calls for action to combat all forms of
judeophobia. As a result of court rulings that the Vlaams Blok was a racist
party, it was forced to change its name and platform.
The
Jewish community
Some 35,000 Jewish citizens live in Belgium out of a total population of 10 million. The two main centers of Belgian Jewry are Antwerp (15,000) and Brussels (15,000). The Comité de Coordination des
Organisations Juives de Belgique (Coordinating Committee of Jewish
Organizations in Belgium – CCOJB) in Brussels is the community’s roof organization.
As the seat of the European Union and of NATO, Brussels attracts Jewish organizations
and institutions seeking to advocate European Jewish or Israeli interests. In Antwerp most Jewish children attend religious schools, whereas the more secular Brussels, location of the Centre Communautaire Laïc Juif, has two lay Jewish schools
and a religious one. Radio Judaica, the first European Jewish radio station,
was set up in Brussels.
POLITICAL
PARTIES AND EXTRA-PARLIAMENTARY GROUPS
Immigrant
and Islamist Parties
Belgium hosts a large number of Muslim
communities. In fact, 20 percent of Brussels citizens originate in Muslim
countries. The majority are naturalized Belgians or are Belgian by birth; thus,
for instance, some 17 percent of Brussels regional MPs have Arab-Muslim roots,
mostly in Morocco. All were elected on democratic lists, the majority (90
percent) as candidates of the Francophone Socialist Party (PS). In fact, since Belgians
of North African origin are French speakers due to their French colonial history,
most chose to vote for francophone lists.
In addition, some extremist, undemocratic organizations are
active on the political scene. Two Islamist parties ran in the Brussels constituency in the June 2004 regional elections, the Parti Citoyenneté
et Prospérité (PCP) and the Parti des Jeunes Musulmans (PJM,
an offshoot of the PCP). The PCP obtained only 3,281 votes and the PJM 4,214.
The anti-Zionist Arab European League (AEL), an
immigrant protest movement aspiring to introduce Islamic law into Europe “by
democratic means,” was created in Antwerp in 2000. Its leader Dyab Abou Jahjah,
a Lebanese-born Muslim, has aroused controversy due to his opposition to
integration and to his demand to recognize Arabic as Belgium's fourth official
language, after French, Dutch and German (see ASW 2003/4).
Political
Parties of the Extreme Right
Since its success in the 1991
legislative elections, the Vlaams Blok (VB; now Vlaams Belang −
see below), which has been part of the far right surge in Europe in recent
years, along with France's NF and Austria's FPÖ, has moderated its tone
considerably on matters related to the Jews and the Holocaust (see ASW 2001/2);
nevertheless, it still retains ties with small neo-fascist and antisemitic
groups, such as Voorpost and Were Di. Moreover, VB head Filip Dewinter
has even demonstrated solidarity with the Jewish community and with Israel, especially since the creation of the AEL. This tactic was designed to attract part
of the Antwerp Jewish vote during the campaign for the June 2004 regional
elections. Although the results of the election demonstrated that the vast
majority of Antwerp Jewry was not convinced the VB had undergone a fundamental
change, it increased its strength in the Flemish electorate and confirmed its
status as the leading political party in the city of Antwerp, with 35 percent
of the overall vote. The VB is also the main Flemish political party in the Brussels regional parliament, holding 6 out of the 11 seats held by Flemings. Despite its
electoral success, the party is ostracized by all other political organizations.
A cordon sanitaire imposed by Belgium’s mainstream parties is aimed at preventing
the VB from becoming a governing party, whether on a federal, regional or local
level.
Since its establishment in Brussels in 1985, the francophone
Front national belge (FNB) has attracted the leaders of political groups
and circles known for their endorsement of antisemitism and Holocaust denial, such as Fraternité
sacerdotale Saint-Pie X, Belgique et Chrétienté (see
below), and Cercle Copernic (a cultural group belonging to the
neo-Nazi stream of the New Right). A number of ‘independent’ publications with
antisemitic content, such as the Walloon Altaïr, have expressed
support for the Front’s political struggle. Following the June 2004 regional
elections the FNB became the second major party in Charleroi (18.9 percent)
after the Socialist Party, but remains only the fifth largest within the Wallonia region (8 percent). Thus, the FNB confirmed its standing in the francophone
political landscape.
Extra-parliamentary
Groups of the Extreme Right
Among extra-parliamentary groups of
the Belgian far right, antisemitism
is less of a taboo than among their parliamentary brethren. Although the
political strategy of extra-parliamentary groups is more radical, they maintain
regular contact with the parliamentary representatives of right-wing extremism.
In French-speaking circles, the Nation movement represents the
radical far right. Nation has ties with extreme right-wing organizations in
Europe, such as the outlawed Unité radicale in France and the NPD in Germany, as well as with the local FNB and VB.Significantly,
it also has links with radical Islamist elements.
In April 2004, Belgique et
Chrétienté, an integrist organization connected to the
Fraternité Saint-Pie X and the FNB, organized a private preview of Mel
Gibson’s film The Passion of the Christ. Belgique et
Chrétienté, created in Liège (Wallonia) in 1989, could be
considered the political wing of Fraternité Saint-Pie X. The latter is a
dissident (and excommunicated) branch of the Catholic Church, whose declared
mission is to fight against “anti-Belgian and anti-Christian racism.” Belgique
et Chrétienté leader Alain Escada is also the founder of Polémique-info,
a weekly magazine appearing both online and in print, which frequently attacks
“restless and anonymous high finance,” a euphemism for the Jews. In May 2004,
the group invited the controversial, newly designated Cardinal Joos (see below)
to give a lecture.
Antisemitic
activity
The second intifada changed the face
of antisemitism in Belgium. The fact that mainly Jewish, as opposed to Israeli,
people and property were targeted reveals that some Belgians chose to express
their support for the Palestinians by attacking Jews. Moreover, the incidents
appear to correlate clearly with the general anti-Israel atmosphere in Belgium, fomented in particular by unbalanced media and political commentary on the
conflict.
Violence,
Vandalism, Harassment and Insults
After a notable decrease in 2003 to 29
incidents, the year 2004 witnessed a considerable rise in antisemitic manifestations
(46, as recorded by the BESC – Bureau Exécutif de Surveillance
Communautaire), close to the 2002 peak of 51 incidents. In 2004 there was one
case of extreme violence (potentially causing loss of life), 7 cases of
physical assault (any physical attack or threat against a person that is life
threatening), 2 incidents of damage and desecration of property, 14 cases of
threats (verbal insults, etc.), 14 cases of abusive behavior (including
graffiti), and 8 reports of receipt of antisemitic literature (in print or via
the web).
The number of violent anti-Jewish acts is still considerable
compared to the pre-intifada period, particularly in Antwerp. In the most serious
incident, in June 2004, four Jewish teenagers, all students at
the same yeshiva in an Antwerp suburb, were attacked by a group of 15 men
described by the authorities as “youth of Arab origin.” One of the Jewish
students, a 16-year-old, was stabbed in the
back, and seriously injured with a punctured lung. Three days after
their release from hospital, his three friends were insulted and threatened
with a gun by a similar group. This was the worst antisemitic attack in the
city since the 1980s when a Jewish child was killed by a bomb planted by a
Palestinian group.
The presence of a small but visible ultra-Orthodox Jewish
community in the Antwerp region, where support for the extreme right is very
strong (see above), and where several extremist Arabic organizations incite young
Muslims, constitutes an explosive cocktail. For instance, in January 2004
during an Israel vs. Belgium indoor soccer match in Hasselt, several dozen
demonstrators, probably connected to the AEL, shouted “Death to the Jews” and “Hamas,
Hamas, Jews to the Gas” in Flemish. Some spectators were painted in
Hamas colors and carried Hamas, Jihad and Hizballah banners (see also below).
On 1 April 2004, e-mail threats signed by Hamas were sent to the office of the
prime minister of Belgium and to several newspapers, saying they would attack
Jews, as well as shops and buses in Antwerp. Hamas said they were avenging the
Palestinians. Police were investigating, but attached little importance to the
threats. The daily Gazet van Antwerpen claimed the e-mail contained the
name Abdakarim el Majjati, suspected of participation in several terrorist
attacks, including the Madrid train bombing.
In Brussels, the attacks were less violent in character but
quite serious. In January 2004, a father and his two sons were harassed and
insulted on their way to a Brussels synagogue by three young men, who shouted “Dirty
Jews,” “I am Muslim – Death to the Jews; we have
to fight them.” In February 2004, Beit Hillel a reform synagogue undergoing
renovation, was vandalized with antisemitic inscriptions such as “No to a
synagogue”; “F… the Jews.” In October 2004, Maccabi Brussels (14−16
year olds) played a match against FC Haren. Many antisemitic incidents occurred
during the game, at the end of which the Haren team chanted Nazi songs. After
summoning both parties, the Belgian Football Federation suspended the Haren
team for the rest of the football season and fined them 250 euro. This incident
was given considerable press coverage. Regional MP Viviane Teitelbaum appealed
to the regional minister of sport to take more active measures against racism
and antisemitism.
In most cases victims of antisemitism lodged complaints to
the police and/or to the Center for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to
Racism (CECLR/CEOOR), a governmental body dedicated to the fight against
antisemitism.
Propaganda
Much Belgian antisemitism is based on traditional anti-Judaism that exists across the
national spectrum: Flemish and francophone, Catholic and traditional left, and
even among liberals. The second intifada revived old stereotypes of the Jews
and even of Judaism. For instance, in January
2004, the newly designated Cardinal Gustav Joos explained to a popular Flemish
magazine that “a sex maniac like Bill Clinton was elected thanks to Big
Capital and the Jews.” In October 2004, referring to a new
invention from Israel, which blocks the use of portable
phones in public areas, such as synagogues, a popular radio animator remarked
that now no one would be disturbed by annoying business calls, implying that Jews
were more interested in making deals than in religion.
Another example was the strange way that Hoover chose to
promote its new product, the Octopus vacuum cleaner, which “kills acarids
[mites] to the last.” A full page advertisement published in Metro, a
newspaper distributed freely in underground stations, on 23 December showed 194
insect necrologies with religious signs (secular, Christian and Jewish).
Two-thirds of the ‘Jewish necrologies’ were accompanied by a picture of an
acarid (versus 13.79 percent for supposed Christian insects) and a text, in
English, such as: “S. Microbstein. We will forever remember the sharpness of
his mind rather than the generosity of his heart as he won’t give us the diamond
dust he had. The sucker [sic].” The campaign was halted following
protests by the Jewish organization Dialogue et Partage, and Hoover issued an
apology.
Classic revolutionary or social antisemitism in which
Israel, supported by the main capitalist power the US, is perceived as one of
the evils of the world, and the Arabs as the main victims of capitalism, may be
found in the publications of almost all leftist ideological trends and groups,
such as the neo-Christian humanitarian movements, a large proportion of
neo-anti-imperialists and other anti-globalization groups, as well as among the
traditional left. It explains the very strong link between some radical leftist
movements such as the Marxist-Leninist PTB/PVDA (Parti du Travail de Belgique)
and radical Muslim groups such as the Antwerp-based AEL. For the traditional
left, though, opposition to Israel is more tactical than ideological. For
instance, the francophone Socialist Party (PS) chose to co-opt to the Senate
the president of the Belgo-Palestinian association – a fanatical anti-Zionist
and former head of Oxfam Belgium known for his virulent opposition to Israel – in order to appeal to the large Muslim community of Brussels. It should be noted that six
out of nine municipal councilors (66 percent)
of the Socialist faction of the Brussels council are of Muslim origin.
The demographic reality in Brussels explains in part various
seemingly anti-Israel decisions of the government, for example, the Council of
Minister’s nomination, in March 2004, of Jozef de Witte as the new director of CECLR/CEOOR.
Founder of Actie Platerform Palestina, de Witte was secretary general of Operation
11 11 11, an NGO calling for the boycott of Israeli products.
In February 2004, European Socialist
MP Véronique De Keyzer, compared Israel’s security fence to a
concentration camp, during an interview given to the main (francophone) state
channel RTBF.
Attitudes to the
holocaust and the nazi era
The subject of collaboration with
the Nazis is still taboo in Belgium. Following the revelations, published in
2000, by historian Lieven Saerens regarding the role of the municipal police in
the deportation of Jews from Antwerp during World War II, Thierry Rozenblum,
son of a Holocaust survivor, caused a minor scandal within Wallonian circles
when he denounced, in the French Revue d’Histoire de la Shoah (Centre de Documentation Juive contemporaine) of February 2004, the passive
collaboration of the mayor of Liège in the destruction of his city’s
Jewry. Two major books were published in 2004 on the fate of Belgian Jewry
during the Holocaust, the first by Maxime Steinberg (La persecution des
Juifs de Belgique, 1940-1945; Brussels), and the second edited by J.Ph. Schreiber and R. Van Doorslaers, on the controversial question
of the Belgian Judenrät (Les curateurs du ghetto. L’association des Juifs en Belgique sous l’occupation nazie, Brussels).
Following the opening of war-time archives in January 2004, historians
have begun investigating claims that local/municipal authorities and police
collaborated with the Nazis in preparing lists and rounding up Jews for
deportation and in enforcing the wearing of the Yellow Star. Jewish groups
would also like to see the role of the Catholic Church investigated. Of 25,000 Jews
deported from Belgium between 1942 and 1944, only 1,524 survived.
Responses to
antisemitism and racism
Public
Action
In Belgium, the Middle East conflict has become a domestic political issue. The
majority of political parties have decided to support the Palestinian cause in
order to gain the support and vote of the large Arab-Muslim community.
Nevertheless, the year 2004 could be considered a turning point. After
the Hasselt incident (see above), the government, after four years of relative
silence, was forced to acknowledge the reality of ‘Arab’/’Muslim’ antisemitism.
Social Integration Minister Maria Arena called for legal action and CECLR/CEOOR
issued a condemnatory press
release in February and urged
scientific research on judeophobia. On the other hand, this same
minister proposed to the Council of Ministers that Jozef De Witte be appointed
the new director of the CECLR (see above).
Until the Hasselt incident, the government
and NGOs were reluctant to confront antisemitism, since it emanated mostly from
Muslim groups. For example, until then the Anti-Fascist Front (FAF) had
systematically refused to deal with the problem, considering it exaggerated, if
not suspect. According to the FAF, highlighting antisemitism only weakened the
fight against fascism, reinforced communal isolation, or worse, could be
construed as supporting Sharon’s policy in the Middle East. Following heavy
pressure, notably from the CCLJ, a leftist, secular Jewish center linked to
Peace Now, the FAF finally agreed to integrate a slogan against antisemitism in
its 24 April anti-racist demonstration.
On 18 February 2004, the EU sponsored a seminar in Brussels on the resurgence of antisemitism. It was addressed by German Foreign Minister
Joschka Fischer, European Jewish Congress President Cobi Benatoff, President
Edgar Bronfman, Israel’s Minister for Diaspora Affairs Nathan Sharansky and
1986 Nobel Peace prize winner Elie Wiesel. European Commission President Romano
Prodi declared that racism, xenophobia and antisemitism were a clear violation
of all that the EU stood for and that antisemitic acts must be severely
punished and the rights of minorities safeguarded.
Legal
Action
Following Germany’s issuance of a European warrant for his detention in July 2004 for alleged racism and
xenophobia, both of which are crimes under German law, Siegfried Verbeke, a
co-founder of the VB, was arrested when he arrived at Amsterdam airport on 4
August. Convicted in Belgium in 2003 for Holocaust denial and racism (see ASW 2003/4),
he also has a criminal record in the Netherlands, where in 1997 the highest court
convicted him, inter alia of attempting, together with Robert Faurisson (France), to challenge the authenticity of Anne Frank's diary.
On 21 April 2004, a Ghent court of appeal ruled that the Vlaams Blok was a racist party proposing political
solutions that were not in line with European and international human rights
treaties. The court fined three non-profit organizations for collaborating with
the VB. According to the court, the VB was racist because it proposed policies
that left immigrants only two options: “to assimilate or return home.” The
court ruled that the VB regularly portrayed foreigners as “criminals who take
bread from the mouths of Flemish workers” and found it guilty of “permanent
incitement to segregation and racism.” The verdict cannot lead to an immediate
ban on the VB because the Belgian constitution does not permit a party to be
outlawed. However, the court slap – which party leader Dewinter immediately
denounced as “political murder” – could have meant a substantial loss of income for its
propaganda campaign. The Ghent ruling was the third in this case which was
initiated in 2000 by CECLR/CEOOR.
The ruling was confirmed in November 2004 by the Court
of Cassation which is similar to a supreme court. Thus, the Vlaams Blok was
forced to transform itself into the Vlaams Belang and to change some of its
original platform so that it would comply with the law. The motto of Vlaams
Blok, Eigen volk eerst (“Our own people first”) has been dropped. Nevertheless, the new VB
succeeded in conserving both state funding and access to television. Recent
opinion polls suggest the Vlaams Belang is the most popular party in the
Dutch-speaking region of Belgium.
