Belgium 2006
The year 2006 witnessed a steep
increase in antisemitic manifestations, largely triggered by the Second Lebanon War. The 66 incidents were the largest number of acts recorded since 2001. Several
key events demonstrated the complete break-down of the taboo on antisemitism
and defaming the memory of the Holocaust, which was relatively effective
until the outbreak of the Second Intifada in fall 2000.
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 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, is located in Brussels.
POLITICAL PARTIES AND
EXTRA-PARLIAMENTARY GROUPS
Immigrant and
Islamist Groups/Movements
Belgium is home to 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, 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). Because of their French colonial history,
most Belgians of North African origin vote for francophone lists.
In addition, a few organizations with
undemocratic ideologies are active on the political scene. These include two
Islamist parties, the Parti Citoyenneté et Prospérité
(PCP) and the Parti des Jeunes Musulmans (PJM, an offshoot of the PCP),
both of which ran in the June 2004 regional elections (see ASW 2004).
The Arab European League (AEL),
an immigrant protest movement aspiring to introduce Islamic law (Shar`ia) 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 ‘de-zionize’ Antwerp (see ASW 2003/4).
The AEL took advantage of the Prophet Muhammad cartoon affair (which began in
September 2005 – see ASW 2005) to
publish several cartoons lampooning the Holocaust on its website.
Hitler goes Dutroux*
Date: 5 February 2006 (http://arabeuropean.blogspot.com/2006/02/hitler-goes-dutroux.html).
*Dutroux was a notorious Belgian pedophile.
Extreme Right
Political Parties
Despite its demonstrations of solidarity with Israel and the
Jewish community since the creation of the AEL, and its more moderate tone in
relation to the Holocaust and the Jews in general, the Vlaams Beland (VB;
formerly Vlaams Blok – see ASW 2004), headed by Filip Dewinter, still retains ties with small neo-fascist and
antisemitic groups, such as Voorpost and Were Di. Besides being
the leading political party in the city of Antwerp, the VB is also the main
Flemish party in the Brussels regional parliament, holding 6 out of 11 seats
held by Flemings. The Vlaams Belang enjoyed the electoral support of one
Flemish voter in four – and in its Antwerp bastion, one in three – in regional
and European elections in 2004.
Since its establishment in
Brussels in 1985, the francophone Front national belge (FN) 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 FN 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). Nevertheless, the FN has confirmed its
standing in the francophone political landscape.
The FN – run by
Daniel Féret, who has declared himself life president – is subject to
constant threats of breakaways. Thus in May 2005, the only two FN
representatives in the Senate opted to change their faction’s name from
National Front to National Force (see ASW 2005). Unlike its Flemish counterparts, the French-speaking right has
never put antisemitism on hold, as demonstrated by postings on the forum of the
Tonnelier.be Internet site, where the “Jewish Internationale” is fiercely denounced. Its operator, Georges-Pierre Tonnelier,
includes in his ‘political priorities’ the abrogation of the Belgian
anti-racist (1981) and Holocaust denial laws (1995).
On 18 April 2006, George-Henri Tonnelier and Daniel
Féret were convicted, by the Brussels Appeals Court, of racism,
including discrimination and inciting hatred. Moreover, Daniel Féret was
declared ineligible for election for 10 years and assigned to 250 hours of
community service in an aliens absorption center. The party itself was not
proscribed.
2006 Local Elections
Despite a general rise in support for the extreme right,
it did not meet the expectations of the Vlaams Belang. For instance, the party
failed to win the city of Antwerp, its main objective, losing its position as Antwerp’s leading political party, although it won 33 percent of the vote. The VB remains
in the opposition.
In the Francophone part, extreme
right parties recorded moderate increases almost everywhere, gaining 11 percent
of the vote in several places.
Another characteristic of the
election was a trend toward communitarianism. Due to the high proportion of
Belgians of foreign origin (especially in Brussels), and the fact that
foreigners could vote at the municipal level (non-EU foreigners cannot vote in
regional and national elections), many people of North African and Turkish
descent were elected to city councils. In Brussels, since attracting the
foreigners’ vote was essential, some parties − notably the francophone Socialist
Party included candidates from extremist parties (such as the ultra-nationalist
Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi, alias the Grey Wolves) in order to assure
the vital Turkish vote.
Extra-parliamentary
Groups of the Extreme Right
Among extra-parliamentary groups of the Belgian far right, antisemitism is less of a taboo than
among parliamentary rightists. However, many such groups maintain regular contact
with the parliamentary representatives of right-wing extremism. In
French-speaking circles, the Nation movement, a self-proclaimed
alternative to the FN, represents the radical far right. The movement,
established in 1999, and its theoretical review Devenir, maintain close
ties to other neo-Nazi groups, in particular through the activities of the
Committee of Nationalists against NATO. The principal leader of the movement is
Hervé Van Laethem (see Guide des résistanceS à
l'extrême droite by Manuel Abramowicz, published by
Labor-RésistanceS, 2005). Nation also
has ties to the outlawed Unité radicale in France and the NPD in
Germany, as well as to the local FNB and VB, and significantly, to radical
Islamist elements, such as Parti des musulmans de France, whose virulently anti-Zionist
position, communitarian demands and Arab nationalism attract the radical fringe
of the European extreme right.
The integrist Belgique et
Chrétienté, created in Liège (Wallonia) in 1989, has links
to the FNB. The organization could be considered the political wing of the
Catholic nationalistic Fraternité Saint-Pie X. The latter is a dissident
(and excommunicated) branch of the Catholic Church, whose declared mission is
to fight “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.
On 18 November 2006, the
Nationalist Students Union (Nationalistische Studentenvereniging −
NSB) celebrated in Antwerp its 30th anniversary, which was attended by many
members of the VB, including the president Dewinter. The program of the
association is connected to national-solidarism, an ideology developed
in Flanders in the 1930s by fascist leader Joris Van Severen, founder of
Verdinaso (Verbond van Dietsche Nationaal Solidaristen). Like the Vlaams
Belang, the NSB want the Belgian state to be replaced by a Flemish one. Most VB
leaders began their political careers in the NSB.
Antisemitic activity
Following a decrease in 2005, the year 2006 witnessed a
steep rise in antisemitic manifestations, with 66 antisemitic incidents being
reported. Although there was only one report of extreme violence (potentially
causing loss of life), there were 3 cases of physical assault, 4 of vandalism
of property, 24 of threats (verbal insults, etc.), 9 of abusive behavior
(including graffiti), and 26 of receipt of antisemitic literature (in print or
via the web). This is the largest number of acts since 2001, the year that the
Bureau Exécutif de Surveillance Communautaire (BESC − www.antisemitisme.be) began monitoring
activity. This marked increase may be attributed to four factors:
- Improved communication between the BESC and the Centre
pour l’Egalité des Chances et la Lutte contre le Racisme (Centre for Equal Opportunities and Combating Racism – CECLR/CEOOR). Undoubtedly,
however, there is nowhere near complete registration of all antisemitic
incidents. Recognizing that Orthodox Jews are actually subjected to far
more antisemitic acts than are recorded, the BESC has initiated
consciousness-raising activities among Antwerp Jewish organizations; as a
result, victims from the Orthodox community have begun lodging complaints.
The Antwerp police have also played a role by setting up a ‘diversity’
unit where complaints can be filed anonymously. This makes it easier for
members of the Orthodox community to be in touch with the local
authorities.
- Greater monitoring by surfers of antisemitic and Holocaust
denial material on forums
- The Lebanon War during the summer of 2006. 22 acts (out of
a total of 66) were committed during the two summer months, including
desecration of the memorial to the Jewish Martyrs of Belgium at Anderlecht on 24 July (see below).
- The mainstreaming of antisemitic prejudice as a feature of
everyday life (see below)
As the BESC notes, the cities
most affected were Brussels and Antwerp. The steepest rise was in defamatory
incidents (insults, publications in the press and on the Internet), which
increased by 50 percent (from 30 in 2005 to 45 in 2006). Compared to previous years, the Antwerp region was less affected than the Brussels one: only 10 incidents were recorded in 2006, compared to 19 in 2005 and 20 in 2004. However, as in 2005, when 75 percent of the physical attacks on
individuals were directed against members of the small, but visible, Antwerp Jewish community, the four attacks carried out in 2006 were all against Antwerp
Jews (three in Antwerp itself, one in Beringen). The vast majority of the
victims of antisemitic acts in Antwerp tend to be Orthodox Jews, who have suffered
attacks by youths of various backgrounds – Belgian and East European, as well
as Maghrebi and, more recently, Turkish. In the Antwerp region, strong support
for the extreme right and incitement of young Muslims by extremist Arab
organizations constitute an explosive cocktail.
Antisemitic
Propaganda
Much Belgian antisemitism is based on
traditional anti-Judaism that exists across the national spectrum: Flemish and
francophone, Catholic and extreme left. As noted previously, the Second
Intifada revived old stereotypes of the Jews and even of Judaism.
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. This 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 ones such as the Antwerp-based AEL. For the
traditional left, though, opposition to Israel is more tactical than
ideological (see ASW 2003/4).
The Belgian site of the
‘alternative’ Internet press agency Indymedia Belgium publishes antisemitic
cartoons of the controversial Brazilian caricaturist Carlos Latuff, and is the
most radically anti-Zionist among the European Indymedia sites.
Demonization of Israel, a phenomenon which
gained currency with the outbreak of the Second Intifada, has given free rein
to antisemitic remarks which had been considered shameful since the Holocaust.
Old cliches involving Jews and hackneyed antisemitic subjects have resurfaced
in practically unchanged form – without generating any outcry. In these circumstances,
condemning Jews is considered either normal, or at least ignorable. Among some progressive
and leftist circles, the Jew who does not openly disown the State of Israel is
considered the enemy of humankind. Thus, the re-issue and distribution in 2006 of
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion at main newspaper kiosks in Belgium, met with no public reaction whatsoever. As far as is known, this reprinting of the
entire work, as an appendix to a so-called anti-American novel Les Protocoles
de Sion, by Patrick Henderikx and Patrice De Bruyne, warranted no mention
in the Belgian press. In addition, it took more than four months for the
CECLR/CEOOR to react and ban it.
Equally troubling was the cartoon
by Kroll, Belgium’s best-known cartoonist, which appeared in Le Soir,
the main French-language daily paper, on 18 December:
The cartoon conveys the message that Israelis are
collectively rejoicing over Palestinian hardships, or – even worse – that they
are the Machiavellian instigators thereof. The stereotype Kroll has chosen to
present is a seedy-looking ultra-Orthodox Jew, reminiscent of classical
pre-Vatican II antisemitic images: repulsive both morally (a kind of Jewish
Pontius Pilate) and physically; his son appears with side-locks, as a kind of
junior skinhead.
A third example of this new
blindness to Jews and/or insulting them, was the desecration on 24 July, during
the Second Lebanon War, of the memorial to the Jewish Martyrs of Belgium,
engraved with the names of over 25,000 Jews deported from the country. Situated
in Anderlecht, a part of Brussels which used to be Jewish and now has a sizable
Arab-Muslim population, the monument’s crypt was ransacked. An urn containing
human ashes brought from Auschwitz-Birkenau was emptied. Windows were broken
and documents destroyed. The floor was soiled with condoms and excrement.
Fearing that this might be the
work of youngsters of Arab-Muslim background (which would not appear to be the
case since the graffiti was in Spanish), both the media and politicians opted
to bury the affair. The few short news paragraphs on the desecration presented
it as an act of pure vandalism, with no antisemitic overtones. As of June 2007,
the memorial had still not been repaired.
Antisemitic activity is also
intensifying on Belgian websites, and especially on forums, where some
moderators allow comments which could be prosecuted on the basis of legislation
from 1981 (racism) and 1995 (Holocaust denial). It remains to be seen whether
the newly set-up FCCU (Federal Computer Crime Unit − www.cyberhate.be), a Belgian federal police
department responsible for hunting down criminal activities on the Internet,
takes the appropriate steps.
Violent
Acts
On 5 January, a religious Jewish couple with a baby was
insulted and attacked in a train by a fellow passenger. He took
out a knife and moved toward the couple in a threatening fashion. The mother
escaped with the baby in her arms, together with other passengers in the
compartment and the ticket inspector. The father, confronting the assailant on
his own, had to defend himself so that his wife and baby could escape. He
sustained a number of superficial injuries.
On the night of 2−3
October, two young Orthodox Jews, pupils at the Wilrijk yeshiva, were beaten up
and insulted with antisemitic comments by a gang of three youngsters,
apparently of East European origin. Further, on 30 November, a group of young
Hassidic students, aged 13-15, on a trip to Beringen-Mijn, were attacked by
local youngsters, of Turkish background, who hit one of the students and then
showered stones at the group and the youth hostel where the students were due
to spend the night. They also shouted antisemitic insults and gave Nazi
salutes. Windows of the building were shattered. After the police announced
that they could not guarantee the group’s safety, the visit to Beringen was
called off and they returned to Antwerp. The Beringen police interrogated six
minors and four adults. The court ordered them to pay damages and interest,
apologize to the young Jews and perform 30 hours of community service.
Responses to
antisemitism and racism
Legal Action
Following the conviction of Daniel Féret (see above),
the extreme right Nation, an offshoot of the defunct Assaut party
(1988−94), was proscribed in June 2006 by a Brussels criminal court for
inciting to hatred and racial discrimination.
Also in June, two webmasters of
Assabyle.com, an extremist Muslim website connected to the Brussels Belgian
Islamic Centre (CIB), were sentenced to 10 months imprisonment (5 on probation)
and each fined €15,000 by a Brussels criminal court. They were
found guilty of antisemitism, denial of the Holocaust and incitement to racial
hate, under the 1995 law against Holocaust denial and the 1981 anti-racism law.
This was the first conviction in Belgium of operators of an Internet site under
these laws. According to the judge, the site contained clear incitement to
hatred of Israel and Israelis and there were limits to freedom of expression.
The verdict clearly stated that comparing Israeli policies to Nazi treatment of
the Jews contained elements of Holocaust denial.
The Center for Equal
Opportunities and Opposition to Racism (CECLR/CEOOR), a governmental
body dedicated to the fight against antisemitism, and the Jewish organization
Dialogue et partage, were the prosecuting parties in the legal action. The
courtroom was packed. The defending lawyer referred to Belgium’s anti-Holocaust denial law as fascist and totalitarian. Assabyle.com has since
moved to a provider in Asia. The CECLR was awarded €2,500, and Dialogue et
partage, a symbolic sum of one euro.
