Jewish community demands govt. support

The Jewish community wants the government to help pay the extra costs needed for securing buildings and persons due to the threat of anti-Semitic attacks, the Telegraaf reports. In Brussels, two women and one man were killed, and another seriously injured in a shooting at the city's Jewish Museum on Saturday. Sources tell Haaretz that an Israeli couple are among the victims. According to government officials in Belgium, the attack is being treated as a likely anti-Semitic incident. "You can no longer keep claiming with dry eyes that it cannot happen here. It can just take place here tomorrow. You only need one crazy person walking around", reacts Esther Voet, director of the Israel Information and Documentation Center (CIDI) to the attack. "We are aware of the danger and have struck security measures that are being paid by the Jewish community itself. Per year alone already, an amount between €800,000 and €1 million is at stake. But we are of the opinion that actually the government should protect our citizens", Voet insists. The director says that pupils going to Jewish schools pay a 'parental contribution' between €800 and €1200 purely because the building needs to be protected. Normally, this is only €100. "Luckily, In Amsterdam, we have police that keep an extra eye out and a city area that gives us something extra. But those really are exceptions", Voet says. CIDI is surprised that no clear signal of the identity of the attacker in Brussels has yet been given out by the Belgian authorities. "That, while there are camera images and witness reports", Voet says. "That is strange and amplifies fear. Also yesterday, incidents happened in Paris again. It seems as though they follow each other in an increasingly quicker tempo." The Central Jewish Consultation (CJO) also believes that a different atmosphere is ruling over Europe. "One of hatred towards the Hews in which an intense fearful dead such as the attack on the Jewish Museum in Brussels could take place." The Netherlands Alliance for Progressive Judaism points to the 'infamous' French comedian Dieudonné, who often makes jokes with an anti-Semitic character. Police in Amsterdam say that the attack in Brussels is not enough to install extra measures around Jewish institutions. "We are watchful, but sharpened security or something like that we do not find necessary yet", according to a spokesperson. The Jonas Daniël Meijer square in Amsterdam, where the Jewish Historic Museum is, was visibly protected on Sunday, however, with a police bus.