LONDON – Outside the Brussels Stock Exchange, on the one-year anniversary of the October 7th massacre, pro-Hamas demonstrators joined in a public prayer for Allah "to burn the Jews."
Pro-Hamas, anti-Israel demonstrations, featuring the chant "From the river to the sea," have been held daily in Brussels since the massacre. Some have included the leaders of Belgium's major left-wing political parties.
Even though the European Union has designated Hamas a terrorist group, Hamas-affiliated organizations are operating in several countries.
Joël Rubinfeld, president of the Belgian League Against Anti-Semitism, says Brussels today feels like Gaza, and Jews in Belgium and across Europe are asking if it's time to leave.
"It's just crazy. It's a tsunami," Rubinfeld said. "It's a tsunami of anti-Semitism which is spreading all over the Western world. Just the fact that they said they think about leaving their country because they are not safe anymore as a Jew, it's a failure. It's a failure of the democracy, it's a failure of Belgium."
Both France and Germany report the number of anti-Semitic crimes has doubled this year compared to last year.
In Britain, the number of reported anti-Semitic incidents has more than doubled, and in a nation that has been a safe haven for Jews, some have raised the specter of 1930s Germany.
Comparisons to Nazi Germany are overused, but there are some disturbing parallels for British Jews.
Because of threats, some Jewish organizations now have secret addresses. Virtually all need security.
Gideon Falter, Chief Executive of Britain's Campaign Against Anti-Semitism, told us, "We are seeing the radicalization of society. We are seeing young people who believe that they are doing a righteous thing by discriminating. We see graffiti. We're hearing from Holocaust survivors who say, you got to be really careful about this stuff."
British Journalist David Collier, a Jew, is very pessimistic about this issue. He does not believe the situation for Britain's Jewish citizens will get better because of how the influx of Muslim immigrants has changed perceptions of Israel and Jews.
Collier described today's Britain as "completely different." He explained, "It's a different country with a different demographic, a different outlook. Everything about it is different."
In Belgium, Joel Rubinfeld says it feels as if European Jews live in "a kind of a parallel world" where Israel, Jews and democracy are evil and Hamas is good.
"It's what I call the 'anti-Semitic metaverse,' where black is white, where wrong is right. It is an inversion of values, an inversion of truth."
Collier is afraid Europe will never again be a safe place for Jews.
He told us, "I personally see Europe as 'lost.' I just don't I don't see a way back."
Thursday night, #Israelis were ambushed in a planned and coordinated attack by anti-Israel rioters in #Amsterdam following a #soccer game. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sent two emergency flights to evacuate Israelis from the city. pic.twitter.com/LKvrkzl2Ob
— Jerusalem Dateline (@JlemDateline) November 8, 2024
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