Two Belgian Jewish groups say they will complain to police about a local politician who appeared to justify the Holocaust.
The Belgian League Against Anti-Semitism, or LBCA, and the Flemish Forum of Jewish Organizations announced their intention to file a complaint for incitement to hatred against Hassan Aarab of the Christian Democratic and Flemish party, or CD&V.
Hassan Aarab of the Christian Democratic and Flemish party wrote on Facebook earlier this week: “I think the Germans deliberately didn’t kill all the Jews so that we will be able to understand now why [Adolf Hitler] was destroying them.”
Initially, Aarab defended his statement, saying it was “provocative” and intended as an expression of anger of Israel’s actions in Gaza, not as incitement to hate. But he apologized after the leader of the Antwerp chapter of his party, Ariane Van Dooren, condemned him.
“I want to offer my apologies for what I said. I seek cooperation and dialogue between different communities. I realize now my statement does not contribute to this, on the contrary,” he writes.
–JTA
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