Belgian-based Holocaust survivors: Jews are packing their bag, we are scared

• Published date: 24 March 2024
• Author: JERUSALEM POST STAFF
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Antwerp, which reports having the largest Hasidic population in Europe, received 90 reports of antisemitism in the first six weeks following Hamas's October 7 terror attack, according to the report

"In Antwerp, the Jews are much more visible with these black coats and big hats, and bunches of boys go by, and they just try to throw the hat on the floor, or when they drive with the bicycle, they try to push them from the bicycle," Sluszny said. "We really feel it - that it's much, much worse than it was before."

Claiming that some people have already packed their bags in anticipation of needing to quickly flee the country, Sluszny said "People who had family who didn't come back from Auschwitz, they are very scared. They think it's going to start again."

Changes in Antwerp Jewish life

Rabbi Chaim Parnas, who supports some 700 families at his Antwerp-based synagogue, told the source that life had changed since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

"Since 7 October, there is a heightened police presence in this whole neighborhood," he said. "It's something you feel as you walk around the streets. You actually see the police much more often."

Parnas said that, fearing for their safety, some Jewish families had elected to remove the mezuzahs from their...