Belgium is being flooded by migrants from Gaza, according to reports posted on Joods Actueel, a Belgian (Flemish) Jewish website.
According to the reports, Belgium’s former Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, Theo Francken stated in a video message on Facebook that he ‘understands the reaction of the Jewish community when it comes to the massive influx of Palestinians from Gaza to our country.’
“One hundred and ninety-one asylum seekers were admitted today,” Francken wrote. “The largest group of young single men from Gaza. I want my quota to be reinstated and my removal campaign to be put back online. Please share this.”
Francken accused his successor, Maggie De Block, of raising his former quota of 50 asylum requests per day, and denounced the termination of the social media removal campaigns. Since his video was posted about a week ago, it has been viewed more than 366,000 times and shared nearly 11,300 times.
As the number of migrants from Gaza is rising, so too is the number of anti-Semitic incidents in Belgium.
And as those incidents are taking place, on January 1, a new law is about to take effect, outlawing shechita (kosher slaughter) in the Flanders region of Belgium, home to the city of Antwerp and 60 percent of the country’s Jewish community.
In August 2019, the Walloon region of Belgium will join Flanders by enacting a similar law. Both laws were passed in 2017, despite the fact that they violate European Union standards for religious freedom.