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| Europe |
| Belgium plans to end army protection for Antwerp synagogues |
| 2020-05-23 |
| [IsraelTimes] Expected move related to budget shortfalls caused by coronavirus pandemic; Jewish community says it needs ‘more, not less protection’ Belgium is planning to stop providing soldiers for security around synagogues in Antwerp. Happy Ramadan! The plan, which has not been finalized, would end the army’s protection in the city’s Jewish neighborhood in September. The redeployment is connected to budgetary and manpower shortfalls in Belgium, where COVID-19 has severely impacted the economy and claimed more than 9,000 lives. One can understand their quandary, especially at a time when so much more general policing is needed. "The Jewish community needs more, not less, protection in these difficult times," the Forum of Jewish Organizations of Phlegmish Jews wrote in a statement published Monday about the plan.Unfortunately, y’all will have to pay for the guards yourselves, or pay for getting some of your people trained. In America they call themselves Shomrim. Belgian troops were first posted to guard Jewish institutions in Antwerp in May 2014 after an Islamist murdered four people in a terrorist shooting at the Jewish Museum of Belgium in Brussels, located about 40 miles south of Antwerp.Antwerp has about 100 Jewish institutions servicing a predominantly ultra-Orthodox population of 18,000 people. In 2018, an unidentified man was filmed stealing mezuzahs from the door frames of 20 Antwerp homes days after a Jewish man and his son narrowly escaped being rammed by a passing vehicle that swerved in their direction onto the pavement while they were walking to synagogue on Shabbat. Police said there was no indication the incident was a hate crime. In 2017, police apprehended and briefly detained a man who allegedly assaulted a ultra-Orthodox Jewish man on the street in Antwerp while shouting "Jew." |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #6 Warning: The Jews who take over guarding the synagogues may have different rules of engagement. |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2020-05-23 12:15 |
| #5 Bien sûr! |
| Posted by: Clem 2020-05-23 10:40 |
| #4 Fabrique Nationale is a Belgian company, n'est ce pas? Perhaps they should, as a beta test disguised as a public service, supply the local Jewry with some of their latest offerings. |
| Posted by: Mercutio 2020-05-23 10:36 |
| #3 True. But maybe we need to protect our own churches - starting in Mississippi It's starting |
| Posted by: Lex 2020-05-23 08:55 |
| #2 /\ I cannot remember when Europe was not beset with social problems. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2020-05-23 08:49 |
| #1 As the risk of appearing culturally insensitive, if you need your national army to protect churches, you got problems that need to be addressed. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2020-05-23 08:41 |