Belgium’s Interior Minister reversed an earlier plan to return 16 officers to their posts in Brussels and shifting responsibility back to local policing. A plan that had caused deep concern within the Jewish community and beyond.
The European Jewish Association expressed its ‘’sincere appreciation’’ to the Minister ‘’for listening carefully to these concerns and for acting decisively to prevent any security vacuum.”
Belgium’s Interior Minister Bernard Quintin has decided to maintain the deployment of federal police units in Antwerp’s Jewish quarter, reversing an earlier plan to return 16 officers to their posts in Brussels and shifting responsibility back to local policing. A plan that had caused deep concern within the Jewish community and beyond.
Antwerp’s acting mayor Els van Doesburg had described the decision in television remarks as “incomprehensible”. She said the city could not allow a security vacuum to emerge, particularly in the wake of the Bondi Beach attack.
The European Jewish Association (EJA) welcomerd the minister’s decision.
According to elected officials and Jewish representatives who have been directly engaged on the issue, ‘’it sends an important message, that the safety of Jewish life is a core responsibility of the state and cannot be subject to uncertainty or gradual erosion.’’
Across Europe and beyond, Jewish communities have been the target of repeated terrorist attacks, in Brussels, Halle, Pittsburgh, Manchester and, most recently, in Sydney, Australia, where 15 people were killed in a mass terrorist shooting during an event marking Chanukah, the Jewish Festival of Light, last Sunday.
These acts demonstrate that antisemitic violence is not local, isolated or spontaneous, but part of a broader extremist threat that requires coordination, vigilance and resolve at every level of government.
The European Jewish Association (EJA) expressed its ‘’sincere appreciation’’ to Minister Quintin ‘’for listening carefully to these concerns and for acting decisively to prevent any security vacuum.’’
‘’We also commend MP Michael Freilich, who raised the issue forcefully in Parliament. In addition to his role as a Member of Parliament, Mr. Freilich serves as Special Envoy for Intercultural Dialogue for the European Jewish Association, a position through which he works to strengthen mutual understanding while firmly confronting antisemitism, racism and intolerance,’’ the EJA added.
In his parliamentary intervention, MP Freilich underlined that although Jews represent only a very small percentage of Europe’s population, they are disproportionately targeted simply for who they are. He also reminded Parliament that the threat faced today echoes painful historical realities — making proactive protection not a matter of symbolism, but of responsibility.
The EJA said it views the minister’s decision as ‘’a reassuring and necessary step, restoring confidence among Jewish families in Antwerp and reinforcing the principle that security for vulnerable communities must never be compromised.’’
The European Jewish Associationsaid it remains committed to working constructively with Belgian authorities and European partners ‘’to ensure that Jewish citizens can live openly and safely, and that Europe continues to stand firmly against antisemitism in all its forms.’’