Belgium deploys soldiers to reinforce security at Jewish sites

Soldiers were deployed on the streets of leading Belgian cities on Monday to bolster security for the Jewish community, after what officials said were antisemitic attacks in Belgium and the Netherlands.



The move follows an explosion this month at a synagogue in Liege that authorities called an antisemitic act.



“From today we're putting soldiers back on the streets in Brussels and Antwerp because safety is a basic right,” Belgian Defence Minister Theo Francken said in a post on X on Monday.



The deployment, in collaboration with federal police, will provide security at Jewish sites including synagogues and schools, Belgian authorities said in a press release last week.



Antwerp "is again a little safer..... the Jewish community too. We say NO to antisemitism!" Francken said on Monday.



The upgrade in security also follows an arson attack on a synagogue in Rotterdam and an explosion at a Jewish school in Amsterdam in neighbouring The Netherlands.