Belgium: Stones thrown at rabbi

Via JTA:

A young rabbi from the Netherlands said unidentified individuals threw stones at him at a park in Brussels in a suspected anti-Semitic incident.

The rabbi told JTA about the incident Saturday on condition of anonymity, citing a desire to have his name “associated with positive issues and not anti-Semitism.”

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In the rock-throwing incident, the rabbi 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. The rabbi 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 he has had anti-Semitic insults hurled at him sometimes in the Netherlands, but never stones.

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