Last Tuesday, Jewish students – some of them wearing an Israeli flag- were attacked by pro-Palestinian activists who are illegally occupying a university building.

“I’m no longer safe on campus because I’m Jewish,” stressed Gad Deshayes, President of the Union of Jewish Students in Belgium (UEJB) Friday afternoon as he addressed more than 500 people who rallied  in front of the Brussels Free University to protest attacks against Jewish students on the campus by pro-Palestinian protesters.

They strongly demounced the rise of anti-Semitism on campuses, shouting ”’No, no to antisemitism.”.

Last Tuesday, Jewish students – some of them wearing an Israeli flag- were attacked by pro-Palestinian activists who are illegally occupying a university building.

The incidents reveal an increasingly anti-Jewish climate on campus, UEJB, which organized the rally, said. Since October 7 and the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel, Jewish students have had several contacts with academic authorities to ask them to take action against the harassment and aggression they suffer.

“We are shouting into the void to safeguard Jewish life on campus”, said Gad Deshayes and Gabrielle Piorka, vice-president of the UEJB. According to them, the activists occupying Building B “do not defend the Palestinians, but want the destruction of the State of Israel”. “They don’t want dialogue or openness, they just want chaos”.

Gad Deshayes was among the students assaulted on campus. He lodged a complaint after an unknown man beat him up “because he was Jewish”, he said.

The University Rector,  Annemie Schaus, said she  “fully supports the slogan against anti-Semitism. I’m extremely touched to see the number of people present (at the rally); It’s a strong mobilization and I find it very important.”

“We’re demanding that the Rector protect her students. It’s a demonstration in support of Jewish students and students in general who have suffered what’s been happening on campus recently, and the authorities’ tolerance of it. But it’s also to show that we’re united, that we won’t take this lying down and that we’ll take action,” said Deshayes.

“ULB’s values are being flouted”, “The university is free… to let it happen”. These were just some of the slogans on the banners brandished at the rally;