Representatives of Hezbollah are scheduled to speak in the conference hall of the Belgian Parliament. The CCOJB, which represents Jewish secular organizations in Brussels, and the Forum of Jewish organizations in Antwerp are organizing a protest, sources told JTA. The conference has nothing to do with the Belgian government, but is sponsored by the International… More ▸
An advertisement for a Belgian travel show featuring an image of Hitler as a stripper has been canceled. The ad had angered the German foreign ministry and Belgian Jews, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported Thursday. The show with the offensive ad was part of a public broadcast channel belonging to the Flemish broadcaster VRT that… More ▸
An advertisement for a Belgian travel show features an image of Hitler. The show with the offensive ad is part of a public broadcast channel that recently canceled a cooking show on Adolf Hitler’s favorite meal, the Israeli daily Ha’aretz reported Sunday. The ad, featuring a caricature of the travel show’s host wearing a stripper… More ▸
Belgian Jewish leader Joel Rubinfeld had a queasy feeling last year when he first heard about a state-sponsored Palestinian cultural festival planned for Belgium. Now, he says, his worst suspicions have been confirmed. A preview of the festival last month in Paris featured posters that called for a boycott of Israel and compared Israeli raids… More ▸
A seven-month disputed election is racking a Jewish umbrella group in Belgium as the community there faces external threats that members say require strong leadership. Part of what distinguishes the two candidates vying for the presidency of the Coordination Committee of Belgian Jewish Organizations is their approach to the rising tide of anti-Semitic incidents and… More ▸
Nine years after the Belgian government began to address Holocaust restitution, many survivors feel cheated. There is a restitution fund of $138 million, paid by the Belgian government, banks and insurance companies in 2002. The distribution of that money is running into snags, however, such as the pace of the government-appointed commission and its demands… More ▸
A Jewish school in Belgium has lost government recognition because it refuses to teach the required sexual education curriculum. Five other Jewish schools are negotiating their status with the Department of Education over the issue. Losing status as a recognized school entails a loss of subsidies, as well as the schools’ ability to award state-recognized… More ▸
As a small group of voters in this country of 10 million people, Belgium’s 30,000 Jews generally keep a low profile. But the community recently sent representatives to Senate hearings on a proposed law affecting shechitah, the traditional Jewish method of killing animals for meat consumption. Shechitah has been legal in Belgium since 1808, when… More ▸
Belgian Jews are worried that a court decision to criminalize one of Europe’s strongest far-right groupings might see the party bouncing back stronger than ever. The Nov. 10 decision by the High Court in Brussels to convict the Vlaams Blok came after the court found that the group had infringed upon Belgian law by continuing… More ▸
It could be two more years before Belgium’s Parliament starts assessing the role some officials played in the Holocaust, but the process of examining the country’s responsibility in the wartime deportation of nearly half its Jewish population appears finally to have gotten under way. Earlier this month, the Center for Historical Research and Documentation on… More ▸
