From the Liveblog of
Monday, March 23, 2026
Belgium deploys soldiers to reinforce security at Jewish sites
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSoldiers have been deployed on the streets of leading Belgian cities to bolster security for the Jewish community, after what officials say were antisemitic attacks in Belgium and the Netherlands.
The move follows an explosion this month at a synagogue in Liege that authorities called an antisemitic act.
“From today, we’re putting soldiers back on the streets in Brussels and Antwerp because safety is a basic right,” Belgian Defence Minister Theo Francken says in a post on X.
The deployment, in collaboration with federal police, will provide security at Jewish sites including synagogues and schools, Belgian authorities said in a press release last week.
Antwerp “is again a little safer…. the Jewish community too. We say NO to antisemitism!” Francken says.
The upgrade in security also follows an arson attack on a synagogue in Rotterdam and an explosion at a Jewish school in Amsterdam in the neighboring Netherlands.
Dutch police have arrested five suspects, aged 17 to 19, over the synagogue attack in Rotterdam.
A Belgian defense ministry spokesperson says that soldiers would be deployed in three different phases: first in Brussels and Antwerp, later in Liege.
Rights advocates have raised concerns about possible attacks against Jewish communities around the world following the launch of the US and Israeli war with Iran. Four ambulances belonging to a Jewish community organization in north London were set ablaze on Monday.
The Times of Israel Community.