Boy stabbed in anti-Semitic attack in Belgium

[Jim Sagle]

By Reuters and Haaretz Service

BRUSSELS - Jewish organizations and the mayor of the Belgian port city of Antwerp held an emergency meeting on Friday after four students from a Jewish school in an Antwerp suburb were attacked.

A spokesman for the Forum of Jewish Organizations said one 16-year old boy was stabbed in the back during an attack late on Thursday by about 15 youngsters of Arab origin which the Forum believed was motivated by anti-Semitism.

<snip>

After the meeting, Antwerp's mayor and police chief pledged to boost patrols in the area. No arrests had been made so far, the spokesman said.

<snip>

The Jewish community in Belgium has complained of a rise in anti-Semitism and of virulent anti-Israeli propaganda since the start of the Palestinian revolt against Israeli occupation in September 2000.

Full story at http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/443539.html

[rpannier]

1. Absolutely Outrageous

I repeat, absolutely outrageous that a 16 year old is knifed in the back. If anyone is not appalled by this behavior and makes excuses for this attack -- I feel badly for you.

[goforit]

2. This is just horrific.

[Baltimoreboy]

3. I hear that anti-Semitism isn't on the rise

I'm sure he just imagined the knife in his back.

[Jim Sagle]

4. Thankfully no one at DU would be rabid enough to say that.

[daleo]

5. So far we have only heard one side of this story

Let's not jump to conclusions. Gangs of teenagers have been known to fight for all kinds of reasons.

On edit - it would be better to say "groups of teenagers".

[Baltimoreboy]

6. Perhaps they weren't Arabs

Maybe they were mohels in training who were really bad at what they do.

[daleo]

8. Or perhaps it was teenaged boys fighting over a girl or some other slight

I don't think it is good practice to immediately politicize conflicts between young people - it may turn out that it was religiously or racially motivated or it may not. Do you assume everytime there is a fight between whites and blacks in the U.S. that it must be an expression of racial hatred?

[Baltimoreboy]

11. 15-4

It is easy to politicize a gang attacking a small group.

If 15 white kids beat up four blacks, knifing one in the back, in the South, everyone would be crying racism.

[daleo]

14. It is easy to do and it is frequently wrong

Would you agree under the scenario you mention that it would necessarily be racism? It could be a garden variety crime, like theft, or just a dislike between two of the boys in the groups who happened to be of different colors.

Furthermore, we have one report to go on, and we all know how incorrect a single report can be. Look at the Iraq WMD claims, where we now know how incorrect a hundred reports can be.

[Jim Sagle]

7. 15 to 4 doesn't sound like a gang fight to me.

It sounds like a vicious assault.

Some stories only HAVE one side.

[daleo]

9. It must be nice to be omniscient

To God stories only have one side. The rest of us have to weigh evidence, that sort of thing.

[Jim Sagle]

10. I'd be happy to weigh your evidence.

[daleo]

12. The point is, there is only one small news story so far on the incident.

I merely said we should wait until further evidence has been gathered and reported. Normally this means testimony from both sides of a conflict. So far we have only heard the words of one Jewish group. It is hardly unreasonable to say that testimony alone is not enough to draw decisive judgments from. I would say the same if all we had was the report on the incident from an Islamic source.

It seems to me that this is especially true when teenagers are involved. Teenagers can get into fights for all kinds of reasons that would never occur to adults, like disputes over girls, personal honor, turf, family honor, drugs, etc. As I said before, I doubt you would want every conflict between a group of white and black teenagers in the U.S. to be considered just this side of a race war, so it is best not to jump to conclusions in this case as well.

[Baltimoreboy]

13. 15-4 is a conflict, sort of like the invasion of Iraq

It's not fair, not balanced.

Again, if this had been black kids beaten and stabbed by white kids outnumbering them almost 4-1, nobody would be doubting what it really was -- a hate crime.

[Jim Sagle]

15. Blacks are in, Jews are out. Get with the program.