Belgium / 14-10-2012
Star of David on Poster of PESZTAT, Head of ECOLO List
IXELLES – A new antisemitic incident took place during the last days of the local campaign.
Following the Yves Goldstein (second on the Socialist Party list) incident, in which he suffered antisemitic and anti-Zionist attacks in the city of Schaerbeek, this time a racist act was recorded in Ixelles. The mayoral candidate heading the ECOLO Party list in Ixelles, Yaron Pastet, saw that a Star of David had been drawn on one of his campaign posters, in reference to his Jewish roots.
The candidate's picture marked with the identifying sign of Judaism was in the Blyckaert Square near Flagy. The 'Philosemite' internet site that reports anti-Semitic activity in Brussels and Belgium, discovered and photographed the talked about election poster. It is difficult to ascertain how long ago the graffiti was drawn on the poster – the article on the website is dated October 6.
As of today, the identity of the perpetrators is still unknown. At the request of Yaron Pastet, the poster has been subsequently replaced.
This antisemitic graffiti is especially surprising because, in contrast to other Jewish candidates, the head of the Ecolo List is not known for campaigning within the Jewish community and had not purchased advertising in the Jewish newspaper 'Mabatim'.
In any case, this antisemitic act which took place a few days prior to the local elections, points to the heightened pressure in some of the municipalities. The Jewish candidates were targets for attack because of their religion and not because of their policies.
This single graffiti is still not close to the organized attacks by political rivals against Yves Goldstein. As reported previously, this Monday the Socialist Party led by Laurette Onkelinx submitted a complaint against 'X' for racist incitement by means of racist placards and SMS messages in Turkish against Yves Goldstein.
