Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz has called on Belgian authorities to condemn and ban this year’s “hateful parade in Aalst” over possible anti-Semitic floats.
“Belgium as a Western Democracy should be ashamed to allow such a vitriolic anti-Semitic display,” Katz tweeted on Thursday, posting an image of a float from last year's Aalst carnival with a large red cross through it.
The float sported Jews with exaggerated features, who were placed near bags of money, something that was condemned as anti-Semitic by the EU and United Nation Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which removed the Aalst parade from its heritage list in 2019.
Belgium as a Western Democracy should be ashamed to allow such a vitriolic antisemitic display. I call upon the authorities there to condemn and ban this hateful parade in Aalst. pic.twitter.com/3TId7ZveOT
— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) February 20, 2020
Aalst Mayor Christoph D’Haese has, meanwhile, described Katz’s call to ban the festival as “truly disproportional”.
“I absolutely call on people to avoid these sensitive subjects. But that is something completely different than the ban which is called for here”, he told the Flemish network VRT.
The remarks came after members of the European Parliament Working Group on Antisemitism urged the organizers of the Aalst parade to ensure that the festival is a “space free of manifestations of hatred”.
The carnival in the Belgian city of Aalst has taken place since the Middle Ages, and is analogous to the Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans and Carnival parades in Brazil. It features satirical floats aimed to poke fun at local politicians and the wealthy.
Ces photos du carnaval d'Alost (Belgique) ne doivent pas circuler
— A Man With A Hat ⚡️ (@BombadilHat) February 18, 2020
These photos of the carnival in Aalst (Belgium) must not be circulated https://t.co/T6yfrxsc4m pic.twitter.com/GtzfV6RF9i
This year’s three-day parade kicks off on Sunday and comes ahead of the Roman Catholic Lent.
According to a worldwide 2019 poll on anti-Semitism commissioned by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a US-based international Jewish NGO, approximately one in four Europeans harbours strongly negative attitudes toward Jews.
ADL chief executive Jonathan A. Greenblatt said that “these findings serve as a powerful wake-up call that much work remains to be done to educate broad swaths of the populations in many of these countries to reject bigotry, in addition to addressing the pressing security needs where violent incidents are rising”.
