Posters with the names and photos of prominent Jew with the accusation: “He/she lobbies for genocide” were displayed in several public spaces in Brussels, including in the E.U. quarter.
The targets: the European Jewish Association’s Chairman Rabbi Menachem Margolin, Vice Chairman Alex Benjamin and Director of E.U. Relations Ruth Isaac.
In a statement issued on Friday, the EJA emphasized that “this is not political activism. This is incitement, plain and simple.
“We’ve already seen where this kind of incitement can lead,” the statement read. “In recent weeks, Jews have been attacked and murdered, targeted simply for being Jewish or for their perceived connection to Israel.”
The statement continued: “This campaign did not occur by accident. It was planned, coordinated and executed with intent. Its purpose was to delegitimize and endanger Jewish community leaders by branding them with one of the most heinous accusations imaginable.
“When your face is glued to a wall under the label ‘genocidal,’ you are being dehumanized. This is not protest, it is persecution. And it chillingly echoes some of the darkest moments in Europe’s past,” the EJA said.
The EJA called on Belgian authorities and E.U. leadership to respond immediately and decisively by removing the posters without delay, launch a criminal investigation into those responsible and “publicly and unequivocally condemn this act of incitement.”
The European Jewish Association also called on the authorities “to ensure the safety and protection of the individuals targeted and of all Jewish institutions in Belgium and across Europe.
“European Jews are watching,” said Margolin. “It is becoming tragically clear that Jews are once again unsafe on this continent. We are no longer asking, we are demanding action.”
The Coordinating Committee of Jewish Organizations in Belgium (CCOJB) warned that “people who do this clearly put a target on the back” of Jewish personalities, adding that “antisemites are increasingly crossing all red lines.”
The Coordinating Committee regularly draws attention to instances where local Jews are held responsible for actions of the State of Israel in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a phenomenon that endangers the Jewish community. “Today, the CCOJB is concerned about the risk of these amalgams leading to acts of violence,” the group said.
“The expression of antisemitic speech and hatred is taking on unacceptable proportions in a state governed by the rule of law. We firmly and seriously call on all political leaders and the media to assume their responsibilities in order to block the anathemas inevitably aimed at the Jewish community, and to ensure its safety and protection,” the CCOJB said.
‘Belgium has surrendered’
Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli on Friday called on Belgium’s Jews to flee the country, accusing Brussels of no longer guaranteeing their safety in the face of “Islamist threats.”
The minister recommended “very strongly” that Belgium’s Jewish community leave the country. On X, he said the country is “being held hostage by Islamist packs chanting in support of Hamas and Hezbollah.”
He said this was not a warning from the intelligence services, nor a call for immediate evacuation, but rather a “serious expression of concern.”
Three photos attached to his message are supposed to illustrate, he said, that “re-enactments of the October 7 atrocities and public death threats against Jewish leaders remain unanswered.”
He also said that Hezbollah collaborators are acting “with impunity” in Belgium.
“Belgium has surrendered. The country has lost its sovereignty and is no longer able to protect its Jews,” Chikli said.
Originally published by the European Jewish Press.