Belgium: Aalst Carnival Doubles Down on Their Anti-Semitic Displays

-Brussels Times   2019 Aalst Carnival


-Brussels Times
Coming in 2020?

Earlier this year, the Belgian town of Aalst angered  Jewish citizens with carnival floats depicting stereo-typical "money grubbing Jews" with hooked noses etc. The Aalst carnival is famous in Belgium and has a 600-year history. Much of its content is traditionally in the form of political satire.

In the face of the international uproar that ensued, it appears that the town and the carnival organizers are doubling down. They have refused to admit any anti-Semitic intent, and for the 2020 carnival, they are preparing ribbons which, according to many in the Jewish community, have anti-Semitic content. So now the town of Aalst is dealing with the controversy once again.

Below is an article from the English-language Brussels Times:

https://www.brusselstimes.com/belgium/74650/carnival-of-aalst-to-make-fun-of-jews-and-unesco-after-accusations-of-anti-semitism/

Here is an article by Jeroen Le Jeune appearing in the Belgian Jewish news outlet, Joods Actueel in Flemish. Translation by Fousesquawk.

https://joodsactueel.be/2019/10/25/maskers-vallen-af-bij-aalst-carnaval/

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Christians for Israel: "Masks fall off at Aalst Carnival"

 October 25, 2019

In the run-up to the 2020 Aalst Carnival , carnival ribbons were released with a sneer to UNESCO and the Jews. The carnival ribbons leave nothing to the imagination, Aalst carnival is purely anti-Semitic and UNIA (Inter-Federal Equal Opportunities Center), looked at it and saw only a few hurt souls. "We are not laughing at the Jews, but at UNESCO," says Kris Vonck of OLG.

  (Nieuwe Oilsjterse Losse Groep)

Who still believes Aalst carnival?

Jeroen Le Jeune

The Nazis and other contemporaries did everything to humiliate and dehumanize Jews. Jews literally became the louse in the fur and lice which must be destroyed. The Nazis used caricatures for this, such as the hook nose, rats and money robbers. The Roman Catholic Church, also, has sinned heavily in the anti-Semitic discourse by portraying Jews as child killers. This blood tale is still very much alive in the Islamic world. Not so long ago, Mahmoud Abbas was allowed to proclaim anti-Semitic talk in the European Parliament and not a rooster crowed (nobody said anything).

The Jewish people have been around for 3,700 years. If one wants to laugh at the Jews, there are really hundreds of possibilities to make a caricature of a Jew. But why the hook nose?
According to UNIA, the law was not broken during the Aalst carnival at the beginning of this year. “People have not maliciously been called to hate Jews. The Aalst carnival was ignorant, they did not know that this was pure Nazi propaganda." UNIA is apparently born blind and deaf, but at the very least we can say that Aalst carnival has been educated in recent months about Nazi propaganda and its consequences. It is after bringing the Jewish community and Aalst carnival together, it is after notification that the Aalst carnival has decided to make these carnival ribbons and therefore choose pure anti-Semitism.

UNIA will not stand in the way, neither will European political leaders. "Christians for Israel" is literally incensed that pure anti-Semitism is not being prosecuted. We will resist any form of anti-Semitism, we will resist any form of dehumanization. Nie wieder (Never again) is not an empty concept for us, but bitter seriousness.