Jews harassed, mezuzot ruined in Antwerp

NEW YORK (JTA) – A 24-yearold refugee, believed to be Muslim, was briefly detained by Belgian police for antisemitic hate crimes, including the destruction of at least 20 mezuzot in Antwerp, local Jews said.

In recent weeks, the same man was filmed in Antwerp destroying the mezuzot – religious objects containing a parchment with biblical text inked on it that Jews affix to their door frames – and vandalizing the entrance doors of several Jewish institutions, Joods Actueel (Jewish Current), the Jewish monthly newspaper reported Sunday. He was detained for 12 hours Friday based on footage from security cameras of him destroying the mezuzot.

He had also placed a Koran near a synagogue, and was filmed knocking off the hat of an Orthodox Jew on the street. He shouted at Jewish passersby: “This is our land, Palestine!” and: “We will show you!”

The man was spotted hanging around an area of the city that is heavily populated by Orthodox Jews after his release on Saturday, the newspaper reported, based on information from Shmira, the Jewish community’s security service.

Last week, Belgian police said that the near-ramming of an Orthodox Jew and his son in Antwerp was not an antisemitic incident, although the Belgian League Against Antisemitism said it was.

Security cameras showed a black Seat Ibiza swerving sharply toward the father and son on February 3 while speeding on Isabellalei, a central street in Antwerp. They were dressed in Hassidic garb, according to Joods Actueel. The car is seen intersecting a bike path, apparently while speeding, then climbing the curb as the two are walking toward it, prompting the father and son to jump away from the curb and toward the safety of the building facades.

They jumped behind a lamp post and the car swerved back wildly, returning to the road from its incursion into the sidewalk. The father ran after the car as it sped away. Police told JTA that the driver was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol.

That incident in Antwerp is one of several recent cases in which Jewish groups and authorities in Western Europe disagreed on the role of antisemitism in the actions of alleged perpetrators of violence, including in Amsterdam and Paris.