Following five consecutive attacks on Jews in Antwerp within
one week, the Belgian government acknowledged that Arabs have
been carrying out antisemitic attacks but couched its
denunciation in highly diplomatic terms.
"The recent cases of deplorable, violent attacks in Antwerp
indicate the motivation was to attack Jews and this cannot be
countenanced," said Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel.
"The attacks against the Jewish community reflect a
particularly foul atmosphere in Belgium."
Michel's statement came in response to an assault by Arabs
that left a yarmulke-wearing Jew hospitalized. Earlier a
bochur was stabbed at the entrance to Yeshivas Eitz
Chaim. Two days later a car filled with Arabs pulled up
beside three bochurim going to visit their wounded
friend in the hospital. One of the Arabs pulled out a pistol
and threatened them before the car sped away.
Thousands of Jews took part in demonstrations in Brussels and
Antwerp, including a march from the diamond exchange to the
Holocaust victims' memorial in order to alert the government,
which indirectly blamed the Jews themselves for the attacks
against them.
Sources in Brussels say attacks in the streets have become
routine, but since the stabbing of the yeshiva bochur
the newspapers have been pressuring the government to
respond. Prime Minister Guy Werhopeshtet met with community
heads and pledged to safeguard Jewish institutions.
