Belgian shechita crackdown is part of bigger, sadder story

BELGIUM’S LINGERING antisemitism is being fanned from an unexpected direction. A threatened ban in the French-speaking southern half of the country on the ritual slaughter of animals is hitting both Jewish and Muslim communities, although they have yet to unite against the measure.

Animal welfare activists are seeking to replicate the insistence on stunning in abattoirs already being introduced in Dutch-speaking Flanders.

The move adds to an ever-darkening picture of Jewish life in Belgium.

Only three years ago, the fatal shooting of two Israeli tourists and two staff members at Brussels’ Jewish Museum stirred much soul-searching among the country’s political leadership.

Critics said that many politicians had failed to defend the country’s Jewish population. It took almost another year before Prime Minister Charles Michel formally denounced antisemitism by emphasising the important role Jews played in Belgian society.

Meanwhile, Molenbeek and Anderlecht, Muslim-majority areas of the capital, are branded as hubs for terrorism, and have become no-go areas for Jews wearing kippot.

Muslims are far from the only group harbouring hate. Traditionalist Christians, the far left and the far right have long been part of the problem.

A Jewish MP in Brussels’ regional assembly, Viviane Teitelbaum, says a good many Jewish students attend university abroad as they fear a hostile atmosphere on campus, and a small number of families have left the country to live elsewhere.

Ms Teitelbaum says she has been insulted several times for being a Zionist and a Jew, and she worries about the long-term effects on Jewish children of attending school under armed guard.

Simone Susskind, another MP in Brussels’s regional assembly, says young Muslims are generally unaware of the close links that once existed between Muslims and Jews, and runs a scheme sending students for a week in Israel and Palestine so they can talk to other young the people on both sides. “It’s a positive shock,” she says.

Brigid Grauman is a journalist based in Brussels