Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Dozens chant about ancient massacre of Jews at Brussels pro-Palestinian rally

(JTA) — Dozens of protesters at a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Brussels chanted the name of a locale where Muslims massacred Jews in the seventh century.

The Arabic chants about Khaybar, located in modern-day Saudi Arabia, were filmed at a rally Sunday in the Belgian capital against Israel’s plan to apply its civilian laws on parts of the West Bank.

“Jews, remember Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning,” at least 100 men chanted, according to the Belgian League Against Anti-Semitism, or LBCA.

That’s incitement to violence, the LBCA’s president, Joel Rubinfeld, told the Belga news agency.

“They’re referencing a historic event in which Jews were exterminated and reduced to slaves,” he said.

LBCA has filed a complaint with police for incitement to violence against those filmed shouting the slogan.

The rally’s organizers, a nonprofit called the Belgo-Palestinian Association, condemned the chanting in a statement.

The post Dozens chant about an ancient massacre of Jews at pro-Palestinian rally in Brussels appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.