Belgium’s Defense Ministry, in coordination with federal police, will take responsibility for securing sites linked to the country’s Jewish community, Interior Minister Bernard Quintin and Defense Minister Theo Francken announced.
The decision follows last week’s bombing outside a synagogue in the city of Liège and comes amid a series of antisemitic incidents across Europe, including attacks in Rotterdam, Amsterdam, and Norway.
Troops will be deployed to synagogues and Jewish schools “as soon as possible,” the ministers said. Operational aspects of the deployment will be managed by police in close coordination with the Defense Ministry. It remains unclear how many soldiers will be assigned.
“Against the backdrop of rising antisemitism, the attack on the synagogue in Liège once again proves that the threat to the Jewish community in Belgium is very real,” Quintin said.
The explosion near the Liège synagogue occurred last Monday. Days later, incidents were reported in neighboring the Netherlands, including a fire set at a synagogue and an explosion at a Jewish school.
Michael Freilich, a Jewish member of Belgium’s parliament who pushed for the deployment, said federal police had invoked legal provisions allowing military support to protect Jewish sites.
“It is good to finally see action following a series of attacks on Jewish institutions,” he said. “Safety must come first.”
Attack on a Haredi man in Antwerp
(Video: Shomrim)
Calls for increased security have intensified since the Liège attack, with political leaders and Jewish organizations urging the deployment of troops to areas with large Jewish populations. The Coordinating Committee of Jewish Organizations in Belgium (CCOJB) also called for a military presence on the streets.
This is not the first time Belgium has turned to the military to secure Jewish institutions. Similar measures were implemented in 2015 in response to terror threats.
In recent weeks, at least eight Haredi Jews have been attacked in Antwerp, home to a large ultra-Orthodox community. Four of the victims were children assaulted in antisemitic incidents. The attacks have intensified since the outbreak of the war with Iran.
Across Europe and beyond, Jewish communities have faced repeated terror attacks, underscoring what officials say is not an isolated or spontaneous phenomenon, but part of a broader extremist threat requiring coordinated and sustained response at all levels of government.