(JTA) — The beating of a 13-year-old Jewish girl in Brussels has Belgium’s Jewish umbrella group contemplating civil action.
Oceane Sluijzer, 13, was beaten by five Moroccan female classmates after a confrontation at a sports center last week, the European Jewish Press reported.
The attackers also shouted, "Shut up, you dirty Jew, and return to your country" at Sluijzer, who has filed a formal complaint with the Brussels police.
Belgium has about 40,000 Jews.
In response, the Coordinating Committee of Jewish Organizations of Belgium, the umbrella organization for Belgian Jewry, issued a statement expressing its hope that the investigation would proceed quickly while also hinting that it might file a civil action.
The committee expressed its "exasperation" over repeated anti-Semitic and anti-Israel attacks and asked Belgium’s education minister "to introduce appropriate educational programs in schools to prevent unjustified tensions between communities."
