Brussels
– A young rabbi from the Netherlands said unidentified individuals threw stones
at him at a park in Brussels in a suspected antisemitic incident.
The
rabbi, who is from the Netherlands, told JTA about the incident Saturday on
condition of anonymity, citing a desire to have him name “associated with
positive issues, and not antisemitism.”
He
said he was walking through the park in Brussels’ southern district of Forest
with a friend when “stones were thrown at us. For one reason only: being
visibly Jewish.” No one was hurt in the incident, he said. He did not see the
people who threw the stones at him and his conversation partner.
“I sometimes see groups of young Arabs in
parks,” the rabbi said. “I smile at them and usually nothing happens, but this
time I was in conversation when the stones started getting thrown.”
The
rabbi, who is in Brussels to visit family, said that he has had antisemitic
insults hurled at him sometimes in the Netherlands, but never stones.
