Israel calls on Belgium to scrap parade over anti-Semitism

Last year's parade featured float depicting Jews with exaggerated features and side locks standing over bags of money, earning international censure; Aalst mayor says request by FM Katz to cancel festival is 'truly disproportional'

Associated Press|
Israel on Thursday called on Belgium to scrap this weekend's annual Carnival parade after last year's featured a float with anti-Semitic caricatures.
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  • Last year's festivities in the industrial city of Aalst featured one float depicting Jews with exaggerated features and side locks standing over bags of money.
    2 View gallery
    Anti-Semitic caricatures in the 2019 carnival in Aalast, Belgium
    Anti-Semitic caricatures in the 2019 carnival in Aalast, Belgium
    Anti-Semitic caricatures in the 2019 carnival in Aalast, Belgium
    (Photo: Twitter)
    The caricatures recalled anti-Semitic tropes of the Middle Ages and Nazi Germany.
    The carnival has its roots in the Middle Ages and often features satirical floats that take shots at local politicians and the wealthy.
    "Belgium as a Western Democracy should be ashamed to allow such a vitriolic antisemitic display. I call upon the authorities there to condemn and ban this hateful parade in Aalst," Foreign Minister Israel Katz tweeted.
    The carnival had been listed as a UNESCO heritage event until last year, but Aalst renounced the distinction days before the UN cultural agency scrapped it over the anti-Semitic incident.
    Aalst Mayor Christoph D'Haese said Katz's call to cancel the festival was "truly disproportional."
    "I absolutely call on people to avoid these sensitive subjects," he said in an interview with the VRT network.
    "But that is something completely different than the ban which is called for here."
    2 View gallery
    קרנבל אלסט בלגיה
    קרנבל אלסט בלגיה
    The 2019 carnival in Aalast, Belgium
    (Photo: Twitter)
    Aalst is one of Europe's most famous Carnivals and it is a celebration of unbridled, no-holds-barred humor and satire.
    Politicians, religious leaders and the rich and famous are relentlessly ridiculed during the three-day festival ahead of Roman Catholic Lent.
    UNESCO, Jewish groups and the European Union condemned last year's float as anti-Semitic, with the EU saying it conjured up visions of the 1930s.
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