2023-10-10 07:15:00
In Molenbeek, there are very few cafes that are not tuned to the Qatari 24-hour news channel Al-Jazeera, “because they broadcast images that Western media do not show”, underlines Icham (not his real name). . Looking worried, in the café located on the Saint Jean-Baptiste square, a few customers ask to turn up the volume, “it’s terrible, these hundreds of human lives lost, who can love war?”, comments Icham.
If, yesterday, the president of the Belgian League against Anti-Semitism feared a rise in hatred against his community, it is, for the moment, a different atmosphere which is winning over Molenbeek and the Muslim community of Brussels. “Between surprise and shock,” notes Mohsin Mouedden, who today gives training on the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. No one expected it, we initially thought it was fake news.”
Two communities closing in
And then, once the surprise has passed, the fear of a future being torn apart between the two communities sets in. Ahmed Abdi, president of the federation of young Muslims in Belgium, shares this concern. “In recent years, we have built many bridges and links with the Union of Jewish Students of Belgium. After recent events, I see the two communities closing in on each other. A divide sets in.”
Between clear condemnation of Hamas and half-hearted remarks, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict tenses the Belgian political class
In addition to this fear of a community tear, that of the loss of new human lives, regardless of their religion, threatens Brussels Muslims. “The Palestinians will pay very dearly for this attack, at least ten times the price in the days to come,” continues Mohsin Mouedden, at a time when Israel was imposing a “complete siege” of the Gaza Strip. “Many therefore do not understand Hamas’ strategy. People are stunned.”
In his Molenbeek café, Icham repeats it in order to eliminate any suspicion that his community might be subject to. “We don’t support terrorists, ever. Who will pay for this war? It’s still us, the citizens. […] In Islam, we are ordered to believe in the five books, it is a religion of peace”, assures the one for whom “this war is not a story of religion, but of territories”.
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