Almost as quickly as it started, Brussels Air's cooperation with the BDS campaign has stopped. The airline has gone back to serving Achva halva bars (the fancy flavor pictured is not one I have found on most airlines) to its passengers. Achva is manufactured in the Barkan Industrial Zone in Ariel, Samaria. And just to make the sacrilege complete, the picture above came from the website alibaba.com.
While Brussels Airlines said last week it did not order the halva and
the snack was served on its flight by mistake, the airline now
called the food manufacturer Achva “one of our trustful suppliers” in a
statement to the Israeli Foreign Ministry quoted by The Times of Israel.
“It is clear that Achva remains one of our trustful suppliers and
without any distinction related to the origin of the product, and
therefore we will continue to accept Achva’s products on board our
flights, especially given its positive role in the community,” the
Brussels Airlines statement read.
...
The change came about through “the quick work of the Foreign
Ministry, at the direction of Dore Gold, the deputy head of public
advocacy and the advocacy unit, and our embassies in Brussels and
Berlin,” according to a Foreign Ministry statement.
Last week, Brussels Airlines stopped serving
its passengers the halva snack following complaints by the Palestine
Solidarity Movement, a proponent of the Boycott, Divestment and
Sanctions movement. A passenger had alerted the group about the snack.
“We’re an airline catering to a large international audience, it’s
our responsibility to offer products that please all,” the airline said
in its earlier statement on pulling the halva.
“Therefore, we decided to
take the halva bars off the menu and replace it with another product.”
Belgian minister compares terrorists to Jews who hid in World War II
What's wrong with Europe is anti-Semitism and it's no wonder that it's rotting from within. Meet Belgian Interior Minister @JanJambon who thinks terrorists are like Jews who hid in World War II.
Jan Jambon, the Belgian interior minister, aroused a storm of controversy in the country Wednesday when, in a television interview, he compared the Muslim terrorists who hid in Brussels for months to “the Jews who hid here during the Nazi occupation,” later clarifying that his comments pertained to "the mechanism of hiding."
Jambon, a member of the right-wing Flemish party N-VA (New Flemish Alliance), spoke on a news program of the Flemish VTM channel in Antwerp. At first his words attracted no attention, but when Antwerp City Council member Claude Marinower learned of them, he posted them on social networks and the reactions began.
Marinower, a former MP, told the Jewish news website Regards: “At first when they told me about it I didn’t believe it was possible. I asked to watch the video – and realized that Jambon really did make this dubious comparison… It’s inconceivable, it’s shocking for all those who hid Jews during the occupation while endangering their lives. How can you compare the jihadist criminals who are hiding today with the innocent Jews who wanted to flee from the Nazi manhunt?”
In an initial response Wednesday, the interior minister’s spokesperson said, “Jambon had no intention of offending the Belgian Jews, on the contrary. He isn’t comparing Jews and terrorists, he was only referring to a factual element of Belgian history: that providing a refuge, hiding people, was something positive, but what is happening today in Brussels is not. Jambon’s statement refers only to the technical aspect of finding the refuge.”
Right.... Technical aspects.... Europe is rotting from within and one can only hope that they don't take the rest of the West with them.
Several US officials say that security cooperation has been hampered by patchy intelligence-sharing by Brussels and wide differences in the willingness of different agencies to work with foreign countries, even close allies.
One US government source said that when American investigators try to contact Belgian agencies for information, they often struggle to find which agency or part of an agency might have relevant information.
Belgium has ordered a sharp increase in security budgets following the Paris attacks, despite being under steady pressure to limit its debt levels under euro zone rules. The government has promised to recruit around 2,500 more federal police, who pursue major crimes, to make up for a shortfall of close to a fifth of the full-strength force of 12,500.
It also says it thwarted a major attack in January 2015, and is eager to cooperate with European and US counterparts.
"These attacks show that more coordination with the United States is clearly desirable," Guy Rapaille, the president of the committee that provides oversight of Belgium's security and intelligence services, told Belgium's state broadcaster RTBF.
"But you have to remember that big powers guard their intelligence very closely."
US officials acknowledge the recent Belgian efforts to step up funding and recruitment.
Yet they say Belgian security services are outmatched by the threat in a country that, per capita, has supplied the highest number of foreign fighters to Syria of any European nation.
"They're way behind the ball and they're paying a terrible price," Rep. Adam Schiff, ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told Reuters.
Asked on Wednesday whether Belgium was too complacent over the threat posed by Islamic militancy, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said:
"I want to stay clear of saying that Belgium was somehow caught by surprise or not aware. You know, we collaborate, we work with Belgium closely."
But Belgium had specific warnings about Monday's attacks and failed to prevent them. Why? Here's one possible reason.
Some US counter-terrorism officials say much of the gap between Washington and Belgium - and some other European countries - is cultural. Europeans' deeper commitment to personal privacy sometimes prevents or delays sharing of information such as travel data -- that is taken for granted in the United States.
After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the US government radically reshaped its counter-terrorism agencies. It broke down walls between law enforcement and intelligence authorities, and created new coordinating institutions such as the Director of National Intelligence and National Counterterrorism Center.
Belgium, by contrast, is a patchwork country divided between French and Dutch speakers and with multiple levels of government.
Belgian security chiefs have repeatedly complained that they cannot handle up to 900 home-grown Islamist militants, among the highest per-capita rates in Europe. Belgium does not divulge the exact number of personnel in its security services and military intelligence, but security experts say they appear under-resourced compared to European counterparts.
"Add to that the problem of two languages (French and Flemish), lack of Arabic speakers, and weak coordination between national and local government, you have a huge discrepancy between threat and response," said former CIA official and White House advisor Bruce Riedel, now at the Brookings Institution.
You can choose to give up a little privacy or to die in private. Many Europeans apparently prefer to die. That's why in Belgium, I am told, there are no terror raids after 9:00 pm. Surreal.
Hmmm.... Erdogan claims Turkey deported Brussels attacker, Belgium set him free
TURKEY DEPORTED BRUSSELS ATTACKERTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan gave further lead on the ISIS-claimed Brussels...
Posted by CNN TURK English on Wednesday, March 23, 2016
The Europeans are even bigger idiots than we give them credit for being....
By the way, Belgium doesn't do terror raids after 9:00 pm. They don't want to disturb the terrorists' sleep (yes, that's true).
Always helpful US State Department says 'Avoid Europe'
Greetings from a plane somewhere over flyover country. I left San Francisco this morning and am now heading for an East Coast stop where I'll board a plane to Europe. The US State Department doesn't want me to do that. Now they tell me. Just got this notice a few moments ago from the always helpful US Consulate in Jerusalem.
Europe Travel Alert
Last Updated: March 22, 2016
The State Department alerts U.S. citizens to potential risks of travel to and throughout Europe following several terrorist attacks, including the March 22 attacks in Brussels claimed by ISIL. Terrorist groups continue to plan near-term attacks throughout Europe, targeting sporting events, tourist sites, restaurants, and transportation. This Travel Alert expires onJune 20, 2016.
U.S. citizens should exercise vigilance when in public places or using mass transportation. Be aware of immediate surroundings and avoid crowded places. Exercise particular caution during religious holidays and at large festivals or events.
U.S. citizens should also:
Follow the instructions of local authorities, especially in an emergency.
Monitor media and local information sources and factor updated information into personal travel plans and activities.
Be prepared for additional security screening and unexpected disruptions.
Stay in touch with your family members and ensure they know how to reach you in the event of an emergency.
Register in our Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP).
European governments continue to guard against terrorist attacks and conduct raids to disrupt plots. We work closely with our allies and will continue to share information with our European partners that will help identify and counter terrorist threats.
For further information:
Call1-888-407-4747toll-free in the United States and Canada or1-202-501-4444from other countries from8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.Eastern Standard Time,MondaythroughFriday(except U.S. federal holidays).
Now if only these idiots would get out of Fantasyland and start fighting Islamic terrorism....
So for now, I will only tell you in general terms where I am changing planes and I won't give names of cities until after I leave them. Yes, it's come to this. #ThanksObama #DankeMerkel.
And a freilichen (Happy) Purim to those of you for whom it's already begun. Fortunately, since I'm a Jerusalemite and I am heading home, my Purim is tomorrow night.
Belgian ISIS members can travel to the US and Israel without visas
Greetings from Oakland, California, where I have been staying with relatives since Sunday while having meetings all day in San Francisco. I am leaving Wednesday morning back to Israel (for those wondering about Purim, because I live in Jerusalem, Purim is on Friday for me).
I've been warning for years that the citizens of all those Muslim terrorist-infested European countries may enter the United States (and Israel as well, although I trust Israel to do a much better job of screening and to keep out whomever should be kept out) without visas. In light of Monday's terror attacks in Brussels, that reality is sinking in.
Leading lawmakers identified Belgium as a hotspot for terrorism
months ago and are warning that many of the radicalized individuals
living there are still able to travel to the United States without first
obtaining a visa and undergoing thorough security checks.
Rep. Ron DeSantis (R., Fla.), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told the Washington Free Beacon Tuesday
afternoon that current flaws in the U.S. visa waiver program—which
facilities travel to the United States from partner nations including
Belgium—have created a loophole that could permit radicalized
individuals to legally enter the United States with minimal background
checks.
DeSantis is warning of these flaws on the heels of deadly mass
terrorist attack in Brussels on Tuesday that has killed at least 30 and
wounded hundreds more.
“The visa waiver reform, this is something we have been perusing and
the [Obama] administration has brushed us off at every turn,” DeSantis
said, explaining that current policy does not mandate more strenuous
checks on individuals identified as coming from terrorist hotspots, such
as the small Belgian town of Molenbeek, which has emerged as a principal training site for jihadists.
“It’s the case that if those folks are citizens of Belgium they
qualify for the visa waiver program and can hop on a plane and get
here,” he added. “Clearly, that is not adequate given what happened.”
The Obama administration “even takes the position it’s safer to allow
someone to come in on a visa waiver than make them get one, it’s kind
of crazy,” DeSantis said. You’re not going to be able to have
intelligence on everyone there because there are so many potential
recruits. It’s a clear vulnerability.”
What is worse, DeSantis said, is that the Obama administration has
been lax about deporting individuals who overstay their visas, meaning
that a radicalized person could disappear in America as they plan a
potential attack.
“There’s no enforcement once they get here,” DeSantis said. “Hundreds
of thousands of people come over and then overstay” their visas. “You
are not going to be removed under current policy under this
administration.”
DeSantis and other lawmakers first labeled Belgium as a hotspot for
ISIS terrorists in the aftermath of the 2015 attacks in Paris. At least
five of the Paris attackers were French nationals, two of whom had been
living in Belgium. Another one of the terrorists was a Belgian national.
Citizens from both countries are still able to freely travel to the
United States under the visa waiver program, which facilitates travel
between the American and a host of foreign countries.
“At least six of the Paris attackers could have attempted to enter
the country under this program,” DeSantis said in December, during a
congressional hearing on the visa waiver program’s flaws.
Belgium's state broadcaster reported that
the Belgian-born French citizen was injured in a shootout that ended
with his capture. The Belgian counter-terrorism source said two people
were wounded.
"We have him," tweeted Theo Francken, Belgium's state secretary for asylum policy and migration.
The
26-year-old Abdeslam was brought to a hospital after being shot in the
leg, CNN Belgium affiliate VTM reported, citing a police source. The
same broadcaster said two suspects may still be in the house in
Molenbeek where Abdeslam was captured.
Three
explosions were heard in that area early Friday evening, CNN French
affiliate BFMTV reported, though it wasn't clear if those were
controlled blasts or part of a continuing operation.
Molenbeek, the impoverished Brussels suburb where Friday's raid took place, has a reputation as a hotbed for jihadism.
Several members of its large, predominantly Muslim population -- many
of whom are first-, second- and third-generation immigrants from North
Africa -- have been linked to terror plots and attacks.
Last
fall, Belgian Justice Minister Koen Geens cited Molenbeek as a place
where more needs to be done to address what he called Belgium's "foreign
fighter problem."
...
Earlier Friday, the Belgian federal
prosecutor's office revealed that the 26-year-old Salah Abdeslam's
fingerprints and DNA were found in a Brussels apartment raided three
days earlier. One person was killed and two people escaped that
operation, according to authorities.
The man killed by a special forces sniper was Mohamed Belkaid, an Algerian who used the name Samir Bouzid, and who is believed to have directed the Paris attackers via calls from Belgium, according to the prosecutor's office.
Belkaid
is believed to have helped Abdeslam travel prior to the attacks and
transferred money to a female cousin of Paris ringleader Abdelhamid
Abaaoud following the attack, the Belgian senior counter-terrorism
official told CNN in January.
Authorities
believe Abdeslam was using the apartment as a hideout following the
Paris attacks, according to the Belgian counter-terrorism official.
...
Investigators think Abdeslam may have been
the driver of a black Renault Clio that dropped off three suicide
bombers near the Stade de France, one of the attack sites near Paris.
They also believe he had worn a suicide belt found on a Paris street
after the attacks.
He is believed to
have called friends to take him to Belgium after the attacks. They
passed through police checkpoints, but Abdeslam had not yet been
identified as a suspect and they were allowed to continue on their way.
Surveillance video emerged of him and another man at a gas station near the Belgian border the day after the attacks.
He has eluded authorities ever since.
You have to wonder whether ISIS will try to take hostages in an attempt to spring him, or whether being targeted by hostage-taking to exchange for terrorists is something that only happens to Israel, which finds itself urged by 'friends' to give in to the hostage-takers.
Belgian public television channel RTBF reported that the public
prosecutor’s office confirmed the deaths of two suspects and arrests of
"several" more. The station said there were no casualties among the
security forces involved and that several people had been arrested.
Federal prosecutors were quoted as saying there had been a police
operation near the center of the city of 55,000, some 70 miles from
Brussels.
Explosions and gunfire were apparently heard near the station,
according to Belgium's public broadcaster RTBF. The Belga news agency
said there were several casualties and police activity was continuing.
"An operation is under way," a source in the mayor's office told AFP without giving further details.
Another official told the agency it was "jihadist-related" and a news conference was scheduled for 8 p.m. local time.
Earlier, a Charleroi man turned himself into authorities and admitted that he had sold weapons to Amédy Coulibaly, the terrorist who murdered four Jews in a Parisian grocery store last week.
Belgian under arrest for selling weapons to Paris Kosher market terrorist
A Belgian man is under arrest for selling weapons to Amedy Coulibaly (pictured), the terrorist who murdered four Jews in a Paris Kosher supermarket on Friday.
Belgian media reported that a man had handed
himself in to police in the southern city of Charleroi on Tuesday,
saying he had been in touch with Amedy Coulibaly, the militant who took
hostages in a Jewish supermarket in the French capital and was later
killed by security forces.
According
to the reports, the man said that he swindled Coulibaly in a car sale,
but police later found evidence that the two were negotiating about the
sale of ammunition for a 7.62 mm caliber firearm.
Bullets
of this caliber are needed for the Tokarev pistol that Coulibaly used
in his attack on the supermarket in Paris, where he killed four
hostages, and possibly in the shooting and injuring of a jogger two days
earlier.
"The man is being held by
the judge in Charleroi on suspicion of arms dealing," a spokesman for
Belgium's federal prosecution said. "Further investigations will have to
show whether there is a link with the events in Paris," he added.
According to this report in the Belgian Le Soir (link in French), the alleged arms dealer, Un Carolo, turned himself in because he was afraid that Coulibaly's Islamist friends would come after him for the swindle. This is from the Google translation:
Having
learned since then acquaintances of his "victim" with the Islamic state
and the jihadist circles, the Carolo, frightened, preferred to share
them with law enforcement.
The investigators conducted a home visit to the suspect and would have
found evidence confirming the words of the person concerned. They would also have found documents on negotiations on armaments. He was a little matter of particular current rating, which is the Tokarev pistol held by Amédy Coulibaly during his attack.
Hénin said that “when Nemmouche wasn’t singing, he was torturing”.
The journalist, who was released in April, said: “[Nemmouche] was a
member of a small group of French nationals whose arrival used to
terrify about 50 Syrian prisoners held in cells near ours. Every night,
blows would start raining down in the room where I myself had been
interrogated. The torture went on all night long, until the dawn
prayer.”
Nemmouche would apparently have returned to Europe in the period
between Hénin’s release, along with three other French journalists, late
in the week of 14 April, and the date of the killing spree in Belgium,
24 May.
And from the third link....
According to the report, Nemmouche's attack was planned for July 14 at the country's Bastille Day parade, in the presence of high-ranking officials and heads of state, including President François Hollande and the head of the military.
He allegedly bragged that the attack would be "Merah times five," referring to Mohammed Merah, who killed seven people in February 2012, among them three Jewish children and the father of two of them outside the Ohr Torah school in Toulouse.
French journalist and former hostage Nicolas Henin provided information about the plan during a testimony he gave of his time in captivity in Syria along with three other French nationals. Nemmouche was one of the captors.
Nemmouche agreed to be extradited to Belgium. Provided that he wouldn't be extradited to Israel....
Anyone want to bet how long Belgium will hold him? I'd bet less than a year.
Surprise: French police arrest French jihadi suspect in Belgian museum murders
I'm sure you'll all be shocked to hear that French police have arrested a French jihadi and charged him with the murders of four people - including two Israelis - at the Jewish museum in Brussels, Belgium last Saturday (Hat Tip: Shy Guy).
According to the report, the suspect was arrested in Marseilles on
Friday, carrying an AK-47 and a pistol of the same type used in the May
24 shooting which killed four people, including two Israelis.
The suspect, 29-year-old Mehdi Nemmouche from Roubaix in the north of
France, was active with jihadists in Syria in 2013, according to a
source close to the investigation.
He is being held on suspicion of murder and attempted murder for the
terror attack in Brussels, AFP quoted a judicial source as saying.
Israeli victims in Belgium were targeted for 'intelligence work'?
Haaretz is reporting that two Israelis who were killed in Saturday's terror attack at the Brussels Jewish Museum may have been specifically targeted due to their 'intelligence work.' Since Haaretz is behind a paywall, this is from the London Daily Telegraph.
"It's possible that the murder in Brussels was not a hate crime or an
anti-Semitic attack, but a targeted assault ... a battle in a covert war,
though perhaps there was a misidentification of the intended victims,"[Amir Oren]
wrote in Haaretz.
But he denied they were spies, and described their tools as "numbers and
computers, not cloaks and daggers."
"Both were accountants who were employed separately by government bodies."
Mr Riva, 54, had worked in the finance ministry as well as at an organisation
called Nativ – which was founded in the 1950s to covertly encourage Jewish
education in the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and to drive immigration
to Israel. Once accused by the KGB of spying, Nativ falls under the remit of
the prime minister's office.
Now Nativ's mission is to encourage immigration to Israel among
Russian-speaking Jews living in western Europe, particularly in Germany.
His wife Miriam, 53, worked for an unspecified "government agency,"
Haaretz said.
"There, and also when she was stationed at one of the agency's missions
in Europe, her post was solely administrative.
"She wasn't Mata Hari," it added, referring to the Dutch-born
dancer, seductress and spy who was executed by a French firing squad during
World War I.
...
The Israeli defence ministry denied the couple had been working for them,
while the prime minister's office declined to comment on the report.
Brussels police have released three videos of Saturday's terror attack at the city's Jewish museum. The videos came from security cameras. All three of them are below.
An Israeli tourist couple and a French woman died from gunshots to
the face and neck after a man apparently acting alone fired two
successive rounds into the museum on Saturday afternoon before escaping
minutes later on foot.
A fourth victim, a Belgian who did volunteer work for the museum, was critically injured and later pronounced dead.
...
Belgian police on Sunday released chilling video footage of the attack. The man, whose face is not clear under a dark baseball cap, can be seen entering the building, taking a Kalashnikov automatic rifle from a bag and opening fire through a door on his victims -- an Israeli couple, a French woman and a young Belgian man.
Police described the man as of medium height and athletic build. He carried out the attack deliberately and unhurriedly, leaving the scene on foot.
French President Francois Hollande, who along with Netanyahu had a
phone conversation with the Belgian premier, said he had no doubt about
the "anti-Semitic character" of the attack.
Netanyahu, welcoming Pope Francis in the Holy Land, hailed the
pontiff for his "determined stance against anti-Semitism, especially in
light of the growing hatred of Jews that we are witness to in these
days."
How does our Prime Minister reconcile that last sentence with the Pope's warm embrace of 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud AbbasAbu Mazen on Sunday?
Israeli media are reporting that a Tel Aviv couple in their 50's were among the victims in Saturday's terror attack in Brussels.
Israeli media reported on Sunday morning that a Tel Aviv couple in their
50's, who were on vacation in Brussels, were among the victims.
A third fatality was a female volunteer at the Jewish Museum of Belgium,
according to an unconfirmed report Saturday night on the news site
HLN.be, which is the online edition of the Het Laatste Nieuws daily. A
fourth victim, whom HLN reported was a 23-year-old employee of the
museum, was also reportedly killed.
Police has no suspects in custody, the news site also reported. Belgian
authorities are yet to release the names of those who died in the museum
and the fourth person.
The shooter aimed for the victims throats and heads, witnesses told the daily.
According to HLN.be, police no longer suspect a person whom they
detained shortly after the attack. That person is currently regarded as a
witness, HLN.be reported.
Authorities are looking for the shooter, who was driven to the museum by
a suspected accomplice in an Audi car, and the driver and are analyzing
security camera footage.
May God Avenge their blood.
Somehow, I don't suspect anyone Amish is behind this attack.
Four people have been murdered (a fourth person died after the video below was released) in a terror attack on the Jewish museum in Brussels on Saturday.
Let's go to the videotape.
The reactions have been shocked. And for reasons I'm going to explain below, I have to wonder why everyone seems so surprised.
Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders was at the scene shortly after the attack, and told reporters that the two other victims had been shot inside the museum. "I hope we will identify those responsible very quickly," he said.
Reynders said he had been nearby when he saw people fleeing and heard shots and rushed to help. When
he saw "bodies on the ground in pools of blood" he called the
112 emergency number and rounded up eye-witnesses to assist the police.
Police quickly cordoned off the area.
"I am shocked by the murders committed at the Jewish museum, I am thinking of the victims I saw there and their families," Reynders said on Twitter.
... The head of Belgium's Jewish Consistory told La Libre that "it is probably a terrorist act. For us it is an extremely serious act."
He said the museum had received no recent threats and that its staff "are in shock".
Milquet said the government had moved to increase protection at Jewish buildings as well as the Israeli embassy.
Belgium Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo also expressed that he was "very shocked" by the attack.
"All Belgians are united and show solidarity in the face of this odious attack on a Jewish cultural site," he added.
Brussels Mayor Yvan Mayeur told the BBC as stating that the shooting was
likely a terror attack and that the choice of location “isn't a
coincidence.”
About half of Belgium's 42,000-strong Jewish community lives in Brussels.
...
“Two years after Toulouse, and on the eve of the European elections,
this despicable attack is yet another terrible reminder of the kind of
threats Europe’s Jews are currently facing,” World Jewish Congress
President Ronald Lauder said in a statement shortly after the shooting.
The attack was “clearly was targeted at Jews.”
“Tomorrow, we must all work together to ensure that this doesn’t happen
again. If that means to improve security at Jewish sites in Europe, we
have no choice. It must be done. If not, more people may be able to
carry out such terrible crimes,” he added.
But not everyone is shocked. From the first link again.
A Jewish community figure, Joel Rubinfeld, told AFP it clearly "is a terrorist act" after two men were seen driving up and double-parking outside the museum.
The gunman opened fire, allegedly shooting indiscriminately before getting away.
Rubinfeld, who heads the country's anti-Semitic League, said the act was the result of "a climate of hate."
World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder and European Jewish Congress President Dr. Moshe Kantor don't sound too shocked either. Neither does the Anti-Defamation League. This is from the second link.
“Two years after Toulouse, and on the eve of the European elections,
this despicable attack is yet another terrible reminder of the kind of
threats Europe’s Jews are currently facing,” World Jewish Congress
President Ronald Lauder said in a statement shortly after the shooting.
The attack was “clearly was targeted at Jews.”
“Tomorrow, we must all work together to ensure that this doesn’t happen
again. If that means to improve security at Jewish sites in Europe, we
have no choice. It must be done. If not, more people may be able to
carry out such terrible crimes,” he added.
According to EJC President Dr. Moshe Kantor, while details of the attack
are still lacking, it is clear that it is indicative of a “permanent
threat to Jewish targets in Belgium and across the whole of Europe.”
"This is once again, much like the savage murders in Toulouse, a clear
example of where hate and anti-Semitism leads. European government must
send out a clear message of zero tolerance towards any manifestation of
anti-Semitism."
Kantor recently made waves by stating that without a significant
reduction in the fear and insecurity plaguing European Jewry, normative
Jewish life on the continent is “unsustainable.”
“Incidents such as this do not occur in a vacuum, and are the direct
result of a systematic culture of hate and anti-Semitism against the
Jewish community and the State of Israel in so many parts of Europe,
including Belgium,” the Israeli Jewish Congress asserted.
A spokesman for the organization pointed out that according to a recent
Anti-Defamation League Study, 27 percent of Belgians harbor anti-Semitic
sentiments.
According to the ADL, Belgium comes in as the sixty third most
anti-Semitic country out of one hundred territories polled around the
world.
Belgium, which hosts the European Union capital in Brussels, provides
a paradigmatic example of the new-style ֲ hatred for the Jews. The
Belgian capital’s oldest Jewish school,ֲ named forֲ Maimonides, will be
closed soon due to anti-Semitic attacks and lack of students. Like
during the Nazi occupation, it is dangerous today for a Jewish girl to
go to school in Brussels these days. They are routinelyֲ told "Dirty Jew
– go to your country".
Belgium has 40,000 Jews. In 2012, watchdog groups recorded a 50 percent rise in anti-Semitic hatred.
It
is estimated that 30% of the Brussels population (1 million) is Muslim
and they will be the majority in three generations. The daily De Morgen published
the results of a survey among young Muslims in Brussels high schools.
It finds that half "can be described as anti-Semitic, which is a very
high rate", says VUB sociologist Mark Elchardus.
Meanwhile,
Belgian authorities declared war on Judaism. A Belgian court in the city
of Antwerp has just forced a Jewish Orthodox school for girls,
affiliated with a hassidic sect, to admit the two sons of an
anti-Zionist hareidi militant who attended the Holocaust denial
conference in Tehran in 2006 and was photographed kissing Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
...
In 1940
the Belgian Jews were burned in Auschwitz with the voluntary
participation of the Belgian authorities. Seventy years later, Belgian
pupils are learning how to target Israeli flags, effigies of an Antwerp
Hassid, a synagogue, the Maccabi sports club - and ultimately, to kill
Israelis.
These days, while the Belgian authorities were
opening the Jewish museum in the building that served as a Nazi station,
passengers on a train in Brussels got a shock as the following
announcement came over the speaker, “Welcome to the train to Auschwitz.
The Jews are asked to get off at Buchenwald".
Presumably the same Jewish museum at which four people lost their lives today.
Israel’s Immigration and Absorption Ministry presented its findings to
the Knesset this week that more than two thirds of French Jews are
considering leaving the country. The findings were presented in the
context of an Israeli government effort to increase immigration from
France; however they raise serious concerns that a prolonged exposure to
increasingly virulent forms of anti-Semitism are taking their toll on
the sense of security felt by Jewish communities in France and across
Europe.
...
Of the two-thirds considering leaving, half (or one-third overall)
are looking to Israel as their destination. Nearly 60% of French Jews
have close relatives living in Israel.
The past year saw a spike in French
Jewish immigration to Israel, from about 2000 per year during
2008-2012, to over 3,300 in 2013. France is currently home to the third
largest Jewish community in the world, after Israel and the United
States. The majority of immigrants to Israel have been the young – just out of school – and retirees.
In December of last year, the Jewish Agency’s envoy in Paris, Ariel Kandel, observed,
“The French Jews are very Zionist, and that’s not a new thing,” and
that “about 70 percent of them have visited Israel at least once – a
much higher rate than anywhere else.” Kandel also cited the Toulouse
Jewish school shooting, which occurred two years ago this week, as a factor leading to last year’s spike in immigration from France.
Western Europe as a whole saw a 35% increase in aliyah in 2013, driven
by a 46% increase from Belgium and a 57% increase from the Netherlands. A
poll released in November indicated that a full 75% of self-identifying
Jews in Western European countries have considered emigrating because
of anti-Semitism.
I don't know why any Jew would want to live in Europe today.
Israel's Davis Cup tennis team fined for refusing to play
The Israel Tennis Association, the sponsor of Israel's national Davis Cup tennis entry, has been fined 10,000 Euros (about $13,000) for refusing to play a match against the Belgian national team... on Yom Kippur.
The Israeli national tennis team had been scheduled to play against
the Belgium national tennis team in Antwerp on Sept. 14, which is Yom
Kippur, in the world group playoffs, the highest level of Davis Cup
play.
The Belgian Tennis Association turned down Israel’s request to
postpone the game, but the International Tennis Federation, which
sponsors the Davis Cup, intervened and changed the date of the match to
Sept. 15, but ordered the Israeli national team to pay the Belgian team
for the inconvenience of adding a day to the tournament, Yediot
Acharonot reported.
“The Israel Tennis Association is a non-profit organization, which
designates all of its funds to promote tennis in Israel and develop
Israeli tennis players. As a result, the high fine is a detrimental blow
for the budget of the professional program for the Israeli tennis teams
and to Israeli tennis in general,” Israel Tennis Association Chairman
Asi Touchmair said in a statement on the association’s website.
“As an institution that represents the State of Israel and its
values, we in the Israeli Tennis Association stand proud, before all
those who refuse to recognize the importance of the Jewish tradition, on
behalf of Israel and Jews world over,” the statement said.
The fine is ridiculous, but I think they ought to be proud to stand up for our principals at least one day per year. How old are you? Remember Sandy Koufax?
The capital of European anti-Semitism might not be London or Paris. It might be Brussels.
Belgium, which hosts the European Union capital in Brussels, provides
a paradigmatic example of the new-style ֲ hatred for the Jews. The
Belgian capital’s oldest Jewish school,ֲ named forֲ Maimonides, will be
closed soon due to anti-Semitic attacks and lack of students. Like
during the Nazi occupation, it is dangerous today for a Jewish girl to
go to school in Brussels these days. They are routinelyֲ told "Dirty Jew
– go to your country".
Belgium has 40,000 Jews. In 2012, watchdog groups recorded a 50 percent rise in anti-Semitic hatred.
It
is estimated that 30% of the Brussels population (1 million) is Muslim
and they will be the majority in three generations. The daily De Morgen published
the results of a survey among young Muslims in Brussels high schools.
It finds that half "can be described as anti-Semitic, which is a very
high rate", says VUB sociologist Mark Elchardus.
Meanwhile,
Belgian authorities declared war on Judaism. A Belgian court in the city
of Antwerp has just forced a Jewish Orthodox school for girls,
affiliated with a hassidic sect, to admit the two sons of an
anti-Zionist hareidi militant who attended the Holocaust denial
conference in Tehran in 2006 and was photographed kissing Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
...
In Antwerp, the famous “Belgian Jerusalem”, a highly respected and
government-funded Catholic school, the College of the Sacred Heart,
hosted a “Palestine Day”, which was replete with anti-Semitic references
and activities for youngsters. One stall at the event was titled “Throw
the soldiers into the sea” where children were invited to throw
replicas of Jewish and Israeli soldiers into two large tanks of water. ֲ
During
the onset and aftermath of the Black Death (1348-49), Belgian Jews were
slaughtered by the local populace and authorities who blamed them for
poisoning the wells to cause the plague. Only a handful of families
survived, most of whom were burned at the stake in 1370, charged with
desecrating the Host (the wafers used in communion).
In 1940
the Belgian Jews were burned in Auschwitz with the voluntary
participation of the Belgian authorities. Seventy years later, Belgian
pupils are learning how to target Israeli flags, effigies of an Antwerp
Hassid, a synagogue, the Maccabi sports club - and ultimately, to kill
Israelis.
These days, while the Belgian authorities were
opening the Jewish museum in the building that served as a Nazi station,
passengers on a train in Brussels got a shock as the following
announcement came over the speaker, “Welcome to the train to Auschwitz.
The Jews are asked to get off at Buchenwald".
Antwerp protesters: 'Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas'
Anti-Semitism is alive and well in Antwerp, where protesters outside a concert hall on Sunday night shouted 'Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas.'
Let's go to the videotape.
Belgian
extreme-right and extreme-left activists participated in a demonstration
on Sunday afternoon in Antwerp where some participants reportedly
called for Jews to be gassed.
Approximately 150 demonstrators
gathered outside the Provinciehuis, a concert hall in the Flemish
capital, to protest the Israel Defense Forces Orchestra’s performance
there, according to the online edition of the Flemish-Jewish magazine Joods Actueel.
Several demonstrators can be heard chanting “Hamas, Hamas, all Jews to the gas” in recordings from the demonstration, which Joods Actueel posted on its news website. They will be filed to police along with an official complaint over hate speech, the paper reported.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
