It only took a little graffiti for Belgium's third largest city to side with hatred.
Last week, a group of Israeli Frisbee players were due to compete in an international tournament in Ghent when vandals spray-painted anti-Semitic graffiti near the stadium reading: “Boycott Israel now!”
The mayor and police responded in an extraordinary way by expelling the Israeli team from the competition.
Anti-Israel graffiti at an Ultimate Frisbee tournament in Ghent, Belgium. Hope For Israel Alliance/Facebook
What? The graffiti didn't call for violence, and it was written in English, meaning it was more inflammatory than threatening.
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At best, it might galvanize the people of Ghent to show that the European rhetoric of social tolerance also applies to Jews.
But that wasn't the case. In delivering the “you're out” news, the police chief reportedly told the team's coach, “This is your fight, not mine.”
Additionally, the town told coaches and team members they couldn't even attend games.
The year is 2024 and residents of a major Western European city (a university town) are banned from attending sporting events because they are Jewish.
The town has adopted a policy of tacit recognition of Jewish rights that is becoming all too common across Europe.
Does Belgium still consider itself a civilised country?
It is also noteworthy that the pan-European athletics associations behind the event reluctantly approved of this abomination – proving once again that the sentiment that allowed Hitler and his top brass to succeed is still very much alive and well.
The rationale here is that allowing these athletes to compete might make the tournament less safe, but this is completely hollow: if the police believe that Jews showing up to play their sport of choice will provoke a violent reaction from local residents, then it is the locals who should be detained, not the Jews.
Furthermore, the morally evil police officer's “it's not my war” judgment is completely wrong: protecting a peaceful Frisbee tournament is exactly what the police do.
And the war between Israel and Hamas is nothing less than a battle for civilization against barbarism, and Israel is fighting for justice.
Belgium decided to succumb to barbarism, just as it had done in the Second World War.
