AMERICAN JEW KICKED OUT OF BELGIAN CAFE FOR BEING JEWISH

Jewish tourist booted from Belgian cafe (JTA)

An American tourist was kicked out of a cafe in Belgium for being Jewish.

Marcel Kalmann, a 64-year-old professor, told the Antwerp Jewish magazine Joods Actueel that he was ejected from the renowned restaurant Le Panier d'Or in Bruges after a waiter saw his yarmulke under his cap.

"We are not serving Jews, out of here," the magazine reported.

Kalmann also told Joods Actueel that he was mistreated at the police station where he went to file a report and was told the incident would not be considered anti-Semitic. He said he will file reports against both the restaurant and the police.

Kalmann was born in the Auschwitz concentration camp three days before its liberation.

The mayor of Bruges has ordered a police inquiry into the incident and apologized to Kalmann, the European Jewish Press reported.

ANTWERP SYNAGOGUE VANDALIZED

Antwerp synagogue vandalized (JTA)
One of Antwerp's two main synagogues was vandalized. Many of the Machsike haDass synagogue's windows were broken Wednesday night on the side of the building that sits alongside train tracks. The vandals gathered stones from the tracks to smash the windows, which were found in the building Thursday morning.

According to the Belgian anti-Semitism watchdog Web site www.antisemitisme.be, it was the fifth anti-Semitic incident in Antwerp in the last month and the third case of anti-Semitic vandalizing. The Antwerp police are investigating and had no comment.

POLL: EUROPEANS INCREASINGLY HATE JEWS

Poll: Jews losing favor with Europeans (JTA)
A survey of six European countries found an increase in negative attitudes toward Jews.

The survey, conducted a month ago by the Anti-Defamation League in Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Holland, Switzerland and Britain, found favorable views of Israel on the rise and predominantly negative attitudes toward Iran and Hamas. But respondents said they had more sympathy for the Palestinians than for Israel, and negative attitudes toward Jews in general increased from a 2005 survey.

Approximately half the Europeans surveyed said Jews are more loyal to Israel than to their own country, and more than a third said Jews have too much power in business and finance. A majority of respondents in Austria, Hungary and Switzerland said they believe American Jews control U.S. policy on the Middle East.

“More than a decade after the fall of communism, we hoped that such anti-Jewish attitudes would have begun to diminish rather than increase,” ADL National Director Abraham Foxman said.

Asked about boycotts against Israel by British-based groups, 43 percent of British respondents said they opposed the boycotts while 37 percent expressed support for them.

Among the six countries polled, anti-Semitic attitudes were found to be lowest among respondents from the Netherlands.

BELGIUM APOLOGIZES FOR HOLOCAUST COLLABORATION

Belgium sorry for Shoah involvement (JPost)
Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt faced frail men in dark fedoras and children in bright skullcaps Tuesday and apologized for Belgian authorities' involvement in the deportation of Jews to Nazi extermination camps during World War II.

"Only by recognizing the responsibility of the authorities at the time, can we build a future where this will never happen again," he told a gathering of Jewish and government officials before unveiling a plaque to commemorate Belgians who saved Jews from the Holocaust.

The apology came on the day that the government-backed report "Submissive Belgium" was published. It lays bare the responsibility of high-ranking officials and municipalities in collaborating with the Nazi persecution of the Jews.

BELGIANS DENY ENTRY TO P.A. MINISTER

PA minister refused entry to Belgium after Dutch authorities withdraw his visa (YNet)
Belgian police held a Palestinian minister on board his plane on Friday after Dutch authorities withdrew his visa to attend a conference in the Netherlands, Dutch authorities and conference organizers said.

Youth and Sports Minister Bassem Naim, a Hamas member, arrived in Brussels on a flight from Egypt after being granted a visa by Dutch authorities in Tel Aviv. But he was prevented from disembarking by 10 Belgian police, said Majed al-Zeer, director of the London-based Palestinian Return Center and one of the organizers of Saturday's conference on Palestinian refugees. (AP)

BELGIUM ADMITS COLLABORATING WITH NAZIS

Study Accuses Belgium of Collaborating (NYSun)
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- A government-backed report released Tuesday blamed Belgian authorities and the ruling elite for collaborating with the Nazi persecution of Jews during World War II. Although Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt has already recognized the level of collaboration, the report was the first time it had been presented in such detail.

"The Belgian authorities cooperated with the racial anti-Jewish policies during the occupation," and acted in a way "unworthy for a democracy," said the study.

The report documents how an influx of Jewish refugees from Germany in the 1930s combined with a turn to the political right because of an economic crisis created an unsavory mix where anti-Semitism and right-wing extremism could rise.

Parliamentarians and Jewish representatives sat in silence as chief researcher Rudi Van Doorslaer read the conclusions of the report, "Submissive Belgium," for 50 minutes in the Senate. "It presents a mirror of ourselves," said Senate chairwoman Anne-Marie Lizin, who condemned the "cowardliness of our administration" during the 1940-1944 occupation.

Some 50,000 Jews lived in Belgium in the 1930s and about half were exterminated in the Holocaust.

After the Nazi invasion in May 1940, the Belgian government fled to Britain, but issued instructions authorizing civil servants who stayed to work with the Nazis to keep services running and prevent the economic breakdown that occurred during the German occupation in WWI. In many cases, that deteriorated into collaboration with the persecution of Jews.

At first Jewish citizens had to be registered, then they were obliged to wear yellow stars, then schools and hospitals were segregated. Raids soon rounded up Jews in Belgian cities and they were deported to Nazi concentration camps. Although some cities refused to help, others continued helping with the deportations that sent thousands to their deaths.

Even the government in exile in London, "never let it be known that policies had to be adapted and that the behavior of leading civil servants and magistrates was unconstitutional and democratically reprehensible," the study said.

After the war, many cases were considered too delicate to handle by military courts and "every responsibility of the Belgian authorities in the persecution and deportation of Jews was rejected," the study said.

The first reactions to the 1,116-page report were positive. "This report is fundamental and it is a victory for enlightened democracy," said Philippe Markiewicz, the president of the Coordination Committee of Belgian Jewish Organizations.

Markiewicz said that despite the negative impact of the report, there were many Belgians who risked their lives to save Jews. "You also have to see that there were some administrations which had a remarkable attitude and rescued Jews," he said.