Around 2,000 people, primarily from the Jewish community but also including Christians and Muslims, marched through the centre of Brussels on Sunday afternoon in a demonstration organised by the Alliance for Peace in the Middle East.
The event marked the second anniversary of the October 7th, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, paying tribute to the victims, calling for the release of all hostages, supporting the people of Israel, and denouncing the rise of antisemitism.
The rally honoured the memory of approximately 1,200 people killed and 250 kidnapped during the brutal Hamas assault, which ignited a protracted conflict resulting in over 65,000 deaths in Gaza.
Organisers described the march as “an initiative of Jewish-Christian friendship, inspired by the universal values of justice, solidarity, and peace.” In a statement, they emphasised: “Two years later, we walk together on the right side of history, to support the people of Israel, to demand the release of all hostages, and to stand against antisemitism and all forms of hatred.ā
The timing coincided with recent developments, including Israel’s approval of a ceasefire agreement and the impending release of the remaining 48 hostages – alive and deceased – expected early on Monday, following an announcement by U.S. President Donald Trump that Israel and Hamas have approved the first phase of a peace plan to end the war.
Eugenia Daskalopoulou, chair of the Belgian Coalition for Israel and a co-organiser, expressed happiness over the agreement but stressed the rally’s focus on remembrance, likening the October 7th attacks to an “assault on humanity” that must be commemorated to prevent history from repeating itself.
The march highlighted solidarity with Belgium’s Jewish communities amid heightened threats.
“Antisemitism and hatred can never be justified,” Daskalopoulou added. For security reasons, the route was not publicly disclosed, and organisers prepared for potential counter-protests, vowing to maintain a peaceful atmosphere.
“Many pro-Palestinian demonstrations have been banned or turned hostile, but ours will be peaceful. We have no intention of provoking anyone,” they stated.
Among the 12 speakers at the rally were prominent figures addressing the crowd, including Yves Oschinski, president of the CCOJB; Baroness Regina Sluszny, president of the Forum of Jewish Organisations in Antwerp; David Vandeputte, director of Christians for Israel Belgium; and Noah Kalisz, president of the Union of Jewish Students in Belgium.
A poignant highlight was a speech by Joel Rubinfeld, a leading advocate against antisemitism in Belgium’s Jewish community. Drawing from his family’s harrowing history, Rubinfeld connected the past to the present, illustrating the resurgence of hatred that has forced many Belgian Jews into hiding once more.
Rubinfeld recounted how his father, at age ten, fled Austria in 1939 to seek refuge in Belgium, only for the country to be invaded by German forces a year later. Antisemitic ordinances, modelled after the Nuremberg Laws, soon followed. By 1942, Jews over six years old were required to wear the yellow star, and Rubinfeld’s father and grandmother went underground to evade roundups.
As a child, Rubinfeld absorbed these stories through his father’s accounts, testimonies from other hidden children, books, and documentaries on the Shoah. Yet, he admitted, one aspect eluded him: “How could so many politicians, journalists, magistrates, academics, or ordinary citizens become complicit in the hunt for Jews in Belgium?”The events since October 7th, 2023, have provided a grim clarity, Rubinfeld explained.
Antisemitism, he said, now “monetises itself in elections, flaunts itself in the media, legitimises itself in courtrooms, exalts itself on campuses, erupts in the streets, and normalises itself even in the minds of good people.”
Today, Belgian Jews are compelled to conceal their identities: changing names on Uber accounts, abandoning public schools, removing mezuzahs from doorposts, covering kippahs with baseball caps, and buttoning shirts to hide Stars of David.”In the last century, a yellow star was affixed to the chests of Jews to identify them,” Rubinfeld noted. “Today, Jews hide their star to avoid being identified.”
He referenced a 2015 statement by then-Prime Minister Charles Michel: “Belgium without the Jews would no longer be Belgium.” A decade later, Rubinfeld warned, this appears to be the trajectory. Belgian Jews, once questioning their future in the country, now ponder where to relocate entirely.
Rubinfeld’s message extended beyond the Jewish community, framing the issue as a threat to Belgium as a whole. “Those who think they can sacrifice the roughly 30,000 Jews in our country to appease the antisemites among us are mistakenāthey only sharpen their appetite,” he declared. In a stark metaphor, he described Belgian Jews as “the hors dāÅuvre of Islamo-leftist totalitarianism,” with the rest of society poised to become “the main course.”
The rally underscores a broader European concern, as antisemitic incidents have surged since the October 7th attacks. In Belgium, Jewish organisations report increased harassment, vandalism, and social exclusion, prompting calls for stronger governmental action. As participants dispersed peacefully, the event served as a reminder that the fight against hatred remains urgent, even amid fragile steps toward peace in the Middle East.
Main Image: Christophe LicoppeĀ
