One of the more obscure words I know in Flemish is besnijden. As in, my son is besnijden. Circumcised. I’m an American Jew living in Belgium, in the Flemish-speaking north, and sometimes I feel the need to give the heads-up to his caretakers that he is, well, a little different from the other kids. Last…
BRUSSELS (JTA) — A young rabbi from the Netherlands said unidentified individuals threw stones at him at a park in Brussels in a suspected anti-Semitic incident. The rabbi, who is from the Netherlands, told JTA about the incident Saturday on condition of anonymity, citing a desire to have him name “associated with positive issues, and…
ANTWERP (JTA) – The hundreds of rifle-toting police and soldiers who patrol Isaac Michaeli’s neighborhood have done little to improve his sense of safety. “When the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing, the soldiers might as well be cardboard cutouts,” he said. A jeweler in his 40s, Michaeli lives with his…
Israel reportedly warned Belgian officials several weeks ago about inadequate security at Brussels’ Zaventem Airport. The warning came from Israeli officials charged with evaluating security standards at airports that operate flights to Tel Aviv, Israel’s Channel 2 reported Wednesday. The Israelis found “significant shortcomings” at the airport, which was the scene of two deadly bomb…
JERUSALEM — An Israeli government minister blamed Belgian officials for “eating chocolate” instead of paying attention to security against terror. “If in Belgium they continue eating chocolate and enjoying life, and continue to appear as great democrats and liberals, and do not decide that some Muslims in their country are organizing terror, they won’t be…
Belgian Jews have gotten used to fearing for their safety. Every morning when parents drop off their children at Jewish schools across the country, they are greeted by heavily armed soldiers, stationed to protect the students. And Jews know not to be too open about their faith, avoiding wearing kippahs or Stars of David on…
Brussels synagogues were shut over the weekend as Belgium authorities imposed a widespread lockdown amid fears a Paris-style mass terror attack was imminent. Brussels’ chief rabbi Albert Gigi told Israel’s Army Radio on Sunday that the closures marked the first time since World War II that shuls were shut completely. The lockdown came as Belgian…
Belgian police arrested three people on Saturday in raids in a poor, immigrant quarter of Brussels as they pursued emerging links between the Paris attacks and an Islamist bastion in France’s northern neighbor. Prime Minister Charles Michel said at least one of those held from the inner Brussels neighborhood of Molenbeek was believed to have…
