Belgium: Israeli students in Belgium accused of being Mossad agents

On Monday October 23, the cultural center of Nivelles, a Belgian city near Brussels, hosted the screening of a film, This is my Land, by French-Israeli left-wing director Tamara Erde.  The film was followed by a debate with Marianne Blume, a well-known veteran Israel-basher.

Joods Actueel reports that Blume stated that it is an open secret that almost all young Israelis who study in Belgium are Mossad agents.  "Everything that comes from Israel should be boycotted", she further added.

She also stated that Israel is a "foreign body" in the Middle-East.

Mariane Blume is also deeply upset that Belgium cooperates with Israel in the fight against terrorism – implying that the real terrorist is Israel which she alleges tortures prisoners.  She argued that such a cooperation is a "threat to Belgian democracy”.  No less.

The event was organized by a center right politician  (CDH), Evelyne Vanpée, councillor at the city.  When contacted about Blume’s assertions she indicated that she had not attended the event and expressed no regrets.  

In 2008, Evelyne Vanpée took part, with former minister André Flahaut, in a street event also at Nivelles in which Israelis were compared to Nazis. 

At the time, the Simon Wiesenthal expressed revulsion at "the repulsive manipulation of public opinion staged last Saturday in Nivelles near Brussels."

It is only fair to assume that Marianne Blume, who is a frequent speaker at anti-Israel events, has been peddling this sort anti-Israel accusations and conspiracy theories to audiences only too eager to hear how hateful Israeli Jews are.  Most worrying are her attacks against young Israeli students.  By claiming that everybody knows that they are spies she and her supporters put their safety at risk.  It is all the more disturbing because such accusations were proffered in a cultural center run by the city authorities without being challenged, except by Joods Actueel.