Last week, the City Council of Liège, in the east of Belgium, decided to stop all contacts with the state of Israel in a so-called “support of the Palestinian people.’’
The motion voted by the Council was tabled by the Party of Workers in Belgium (PTB), a Marxist political party, with the support of the Socialist party and the Greens. The Liberal and Christian-Democrats voted against.
Marc Wolf, former president of the Jewish Cultural Home, representing the tiny Jewish community of Liège, told European Jewish Press that he wrote a letter to the city mayor, Willy Demeyer, a member of the Socialist party himself, saying that he was ‘’particularly shocked’’ by the vote.
‘’I did not know that this foreign policy issue was so vital that it deserved a vote of the City Council, while I do not remember such motions concerning Russia and its invasion of Ukraine, China and its treatment of the Oigur people, Iran and its treatment of women and many others, which do not seem to arouse the interest of the City Council,’’ he wrote in his letter.
‘’The fact of attacking the only Jewish state on the planet, and not the others, reminds me, unfortunately, of very sad memories,’’ he added.
Israeli companies at Liège Airport
‘’What will be the next measure that the City Council will vote regarding this issue? The creation of a ghetto where the many Israelis working at Bierset airport will have to live?,’’ he asked the mayor as he recalled the fact that the city airport is the hub of two Israeli companies, CAL Cargo Airlines and AGREXO which are important providers of employment in the Liège region. ‘’The two companies represent many jobs. Do they also intend to boycott these 2 companies and to tell memberrs of the Socialist trade union not to go and work there anymore ?.’’
You will understand, Mr. Mayor, after all these years of serving my city, especially as creator and president for more than 20 years of the Gestion Centre Ville, I am not only disappointed by this attitude of the City Council, but above all, once again, shocked to the core of my being…
‘’I know that in Liege, Jewish voices carry little weight compared to the many Arab/Muslim voices, but I expected a little more respect and ethics from those who were once my comrades,’’ Wolf, who had worked for 20 years with the city authorities to manage the city center.
Israeli rescue workers helped residents trapped by floods
He also reminded the mayor that Israeli rescue workers helped residents in the Liège region trapped by severe floods two years ago. ‘’ I suppose that if there were to be more storms and floods you would refuse teams of Israeli rescue workers,’’ he wrote in his letter.
‘’I expected a little more ethics from the Socialist party in Liege where I was active when I was younger,’’ he said.
He believes that this has more to do with political opportunism than antisemitism. ‘’The Socialist are running after the PTB who is doing well in the polls ahead of next year’s elections,’’ he said.
The mayor, he remembered, ‘’helped us when he opened the archives of the city on the deportation of the Jews of Liège.’’
‘’If the city council is determined to do something useful, it could perhaps consider the question of where to place the memorial to the deportation of the Jews of Liège. It’s already more than ten years that we are waiting for city to take a decision on this matter.’’ On the eve of the Holocaust, there were nearly 3,000 Jews in Liège. About a third were murdered.
Less than 500 Jews live today in the city.