Belgium Sends Troops to Protect Jewish Sites

Belgium has deployed soldiers to protect Jewish institutions in major cities, following a series of antisemitic attacks across Belgium and neighboring Netherlands, authorities announced Monday.

Armed troops were stationed in Brussels and Antwerp, with plans to expand the deployment to Liege, where a synagogue was targeted earlier this month in what officials described as an antisemitic explosion.

Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken said the move was necessary to restore a sense of safety.

“From today, we’re putting soldiers back on the streets in Brussels and Antwerp because safety is a basic right,” Francken said in a statement, adding that Jewish communities would be among the primary beneficiaries of the reinforced security presence.

The deployment, carried out in coordination with federal police, focuses on protecting synagogues, Jewish schools, and other communal institutions.

It comes amid a broader escalation in attacks targeting Jewish communities across Western Europe.

In the Netherlands, an arson attack struck a synagogue in Rotterdam earlier this month, while a Jewish school in Amsterdam was damaged in a separate explosion. Dutch authorities have arrested five suspects, aged 17 to 19, in connection with the Rotterdam incident.

No injuries were reported in either attack, but officials have warned of growing risks.

The incidents are part of a wider pattern that has raised alarm among European governments and Jewish organizations, particularly against the backdrop of ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

Security concerns intensified further after an antisemitic arson attack in London early Monday, in which four ambulances belonging to a Jewish volunteer emergency service were set on fire outside a synagogue in Golders Green. British authorities are treating that incident as a hate crime, with possible links to Iran-backed actors under investigation.

Belgian officials said the military deployment would take place in phases, beginning with the country’s largest cities before expanding to additional areas as needed.

A spokesperson for the Belgian defense ministry said the goal is both deterrence and rapid response, ensuring that potential threats can be addressed immediately.

“Antwerp is again a little safer,” Francken said, adding that the government was sending a clear message: “We say no to antisemitism.”

Rights groups and security analysts have warned that Jewish communities worldwide are facing heightened risks, with tensions spilling beyond the Middle East and into diaspora communities.

Earlier this month, a bombing near the US embassy in Oslo, which Norwegian investigators labeled an act of terrorism, added to concerns about a broader campaign of attacks targeting Western and Jewish-linked sites. No injuries were reported in that incident.

While the presence of soldiers on European streets is not unprecedented, particularly following past terror waves, the renewed deployment underscores the seriousness with which authorities are treating the current threat environment.

For Jewish communities in Belgium and across Europe, the sight of armed troops outside schools and synagogues is both a reassurance and a stark reflection of the moment.