From the Liveblog of
Thursday, December 18, 2025
Belgian minister reverses decision to withdraw police from Antwerp Jewish district
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleZev Stub is the Times of Israel's Diaspora Affairs correspondent.
Belgium’s Interior Minister Bernard Quintin has reversed a decision to withdraw police security forces in Antwerp’s Jewish district in January.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that the Belgian government planned to move the 16 federal police officers that had been deployed in the district to Brussels and transfer responsibility for the neighborhood’s security to local police.
However, in the face of pressure from the country’s Jewish leaders, including ultra-Orthodox MP Michael Freilich, Quintin said this evening he would repeal the decision.
The reversal “sends an important message: the safety of Jewish life is a core responsibility of the state and cannot be subject to uncertainty or gradual erosion,” the European Jewish Association says in a statement.
The European Jewish Association (EJA) welcomes the decision by Belgium’s Minister of the Interior to maintain the deployment of federal police units in Antwerp’s Jewish quarter, reversing an earlier plan that had caused deep concern within the Jewish community and beyond.
This… pic.twitter.com/SXyGZpnLX1
— EJA – EIPA (@EJAssociation) December 18, 2025
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