Belgian Politician (Again) Charged With Anti-Semitism

Hat tip Joods Actueel

The Jewish Flemish-language (Dutch) news outlet, Joods Actueel, has a report on an anti-Semitic Facebook posting by Belgian MP, Hassan Aarab (Doesn’t FB censor this stuff?) Translation by Fousesquawk.

https://joodsactueel.be/2021/05/21/aarab-antisemitisch/

CD&V (Christian Democrat and Flemish Party) council member Hassan Aarab again on the anti-Semitic tour

Hassan Aarab posting: “I love your flag just as much as you love this flag”.

Post from Soso Aarab: “Awesome”

Caption: The (FB posting) from Hassan Aarab with a reaction from Soso Aarab, probably a family member

On Facebook, Aarab posted a photo with a Nazi flag which he compares with a photo of the Israeli flag, “I am no anti-Semite,” reacts Aarab.

This is not the man’s (first example), however. In 2014, he was discredited after he wrote to understand why Hitler wanted to exterminate the Jews. After the CD&V immediately kicked him out of the party, he put on the sackcloth and gave his apologies. 

The Forum of Jewish Organizations accepted his apologies and then released a press report, “We don’t file complaints no matter the cost in order to get a judgment.” In a conversation with the Forum, Aarab then said that he himself would speak to young people to raise the problem of anti-Semitism.

Afterward, Aarab went to eat at Hoffy’s with our then-editor-in chief, Michael Freilich, and made a visit to the Dossin Caserne, where he was informed in depth over the horrors the Nazi regime brought upon Jewish countrymen. Aarab attended a memorial in Antwerp to the victims of Nazi violence.

Sincerely?

Hans Knoop of the FJO says you can never estimate whether someone has revised their attitude. But now it is clear to Knoop that Hassan Aarab didn’t mean a bit of it.

“We will see what the CD&V does, but I cannot imagine that the party can keep somebody in its ranks who has taken anti-Semitic positions twice,” says Terry Davids, director of Joods Actueel.

Former editor-in-chief, Michael Freilich feels personally hurt; in response to the GVA, the member of Parliament for the N-VA: “He sets an example, and you can be angry over what is happening in the Middle East but enunciate it in a respectful manner, not using such reprehensible statements that don’t help us get one step closer to peace and just further stir emotions. CD&V must consider whether they want to have someone like this in the party.”

Jan Braeckmans, chairman of the Antwerp branch of CD&V, will soon have a conversation with Aarab, who remains firm that he is no anti-Semite.

Meanwhile, the FB page of Hassan Aarab is a textbook example of how this kind of hateful message can generate hate.