2023-10-21 05:14:00
“I have heard of parents who have decided to withdraw their children from public schools because they fear insults. Quite a few people turn to me to tell me of their fears of experiencing a surge of hatred, accentuated by the false information circulating on social networks,” explains Jonathan de Lathouwer, former vice-president Vice-President of the Committee of coordination of Jewish organizations in Belgium.
“An amalgam is made between the Israeli government and the Jews of Belgium. There is a projection of anti-Semitic myths onto the State of Israel and ultimately, reality does not matter. Recent events constitute an opportunity for some to shout out all their anti-Semitic prejudices in public. Result: there is real fear in Jewish families in Belgium. Children have not been to school following the Hamas attacks,” he continues.
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The attack that took place in Brussels last week didn’t help either. But according to Yves Oschinsky, president of the CCOJB, “concern was already present before October 7 but it has only increased since that date.” “Jewish children are asked all the time to justify actions for which they are not responsible. You really have to hang on today when you’re Jewish and a student in a public school. ”, he laments.
Joël Rubinfeld, president of the Belgian League against Anti-Semitism, was contacted by the parents of a fourteen-year-old Jewish child, the victim of an attack at school on October 9.
“He was threatened with death and surrounded by four other students after class because he had posted a message of support for the victims of the Hamas attack on social networks. The attack was filmed by a witness. Because of this message, he suffered things that no fourteen-year-old child should suffer.”, he denounces.
Gad Deshayes, president of the Union of Jewish Students of Belgium, also observes strong tensions on campus. “We are very worried. There is a very violent climate. Jewish students are advised not to wear visible religious symbols and to avoid discussions about the conflict to limit the risk of aggression,” he explains.
Benjamin Beeckmans organizes activities for schools as part of a project entitled “Hate, I say no.” Through this program, which has already reached 40,000 children in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, it is tackling anti-Semitism. He also attests to an increase in the pressure weighing on Jewish children in Belgium.
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“Jewish children are challenged all the time, they are asked to take sides. There is a real identity turmoil at the moment: from the moment you are Jewish and white, it is assumed that you are on the side of the aggressor,” he laments.
And to denounce: “there is an acceleration of physical and verbal violence. In some schools, Jewish is an insult. Our work consists precisely of going into schools to fight against this identity assignment. The problem is that we are faced with an avalanche of information which goes in all directions and gives rise to unbridled fantasies and an outbreak of violence. Whether the facts are proven or not, everything is a pretext for verbal and physical violence. It defies all logic. Words do a lot of damage to living together and the teaching staff is undermined,” he denounces.
“We must manage to live together in Brussels despite this. I don’t want to live in a world divided over a conflict that takes place thousands of kilometers from here and in which I have nothing to do,” he emphasizes.
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