 מצורף קובץ
Orthodox Jew shot dead in Antwerp
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Ronit Sela, THE JERUSALEM POST Nov. 18, 2004
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Moshe Yitzhak Na'eh, 24, a Belgian Jew who was shot in the head Wednesday night in Antwerp in what the Belgian Jewish community defined an anti-Semitism attack, died of his wounds late Thursday afternoon, Belgium's Prosecutor's Office announced.
On Friday evening Belgian police leaned towards the assessment that the murder was committed on criminal grounds - and was not motivated by anti-Semitism - owing to messages recorded on the victim's cellular phone which said, "You will pay the price for what you did," Israel Radio reported. As of yet, though, police have not ruled out the possibility that Muslim extremists were responsible for Na'eh's murder.
"We do not exclude any motive, but so far there are no indications that the motive was racist or extremist," said the prosecutor's spokeswoman, Dominique Renyers.
Renyers called the victim a "devout young man" who was shot at close range. He slumped onto the road, where he was discovered by passersby who initially thought he was the victim of a traffic accident. There were no witnesses to the shooting.
Na'eh, 24, a father of three – the oldest five years old, the youngest an 18-month-old baby – was shot at about 2:20 a.m. on Lange Kievitstraat as he was unloading his car near a Muslim neighborhood in Antwerp, home to large Jewish and Muslim communities. Na'eh was also a British citizen.
Speaking to The Jerusalem Post from Na'eh's bedside in an Antwerp hospital before he died, the victim's sister, who asked that her name not be published, said the family was praying her brother would survive the attack. "As long as there is life there is hope," she said, adding that all the Jewish schools in Antwerp were reciting psalms for her brother's recovery.
Belgian federal police are investigating the incident, which to many appeared to be a hate crime, since Na'eh's money was not stolen and he was not known to be involved in criminal activities.
Louis Davids, editor-in-chief of the Belgisch-Israelitisch Weekblad, told The Jerusalem Post that the shooting in Antwerp made headline news on all TV and radio stations Thursday. "Belgian Jews are worried about the escalating violence in their neighborhood. The young man was an integral part of the close-knit Jewish community, and for that reason many are distraught and shocked," Davids said.
He added that police have increased their patrols of the Jewish areas to reassure residents and have assigned a large team to investigate the case.
Na'eh was employed by an Antwerp rebbe, as is his father. He finished work at the rebbe's house, located in the same building as the community's synagogue, at 1:30 a.m. on Thursday, according to Yehuda Ceitlin, a correspondent for the European Jewish Press.
The rebbe's house is located near a bridge separating the Muslim and Jewish neighborhoods of Antwerp. Na'eh was walking along the bridge on his way home when he was shot in the head.
He was rushed to hospital, where doctors struggled to keep him alive.
"If this is indeed an anti-Semitic act," Ceitlin told the Post on Thursday. "This is a big change in Belgium. There have been anti-Semitic stabbings here, punches – but never shooting. The Jewish community here is very worried," he said.
Ceitlin added that he was informed that at the time of the shooting Na'eh was carrying 1,300 in his pockets, which the attackers are not believed to have attempted to steal.
"This is further evidence that the attack might have been an anti-Semitic incident," Ceitlin said.
Representatives of the Antwerp police and the Belgian Justice Ministry held a press conference on Thursday to officially address the incident. "They didn't give away any new information," Ceitlin said. "They did, however, call Belgian Jewish leaders prior to the meeting and asked them not to participate in it, so as not to turn the press conference into a 'Jewish happening,' " he said.
The shooting death of Na'eh comes on the same day that a Belgian politician of Moroccan origin who has repeatedly criticized Islamic culture came under police protection after being threatened with "ritual killing."
Mimount Bousakla, a socialist senator in Antwerp, whose parents are Muslims from Morocco, reported the threat to the police, who took it seriously after the killing of filmmaker Theo van Gogh in the streets of Amsterdam earlier this month.
In July, two Jews were physically assaulted on the streets of Antwerp, including a cyclist who was attacked by a group of 15 people hurling stones and bottles.
Belgium's foreign minister condemned the July attacks, saying, "This latest act of cowardly violence in Antwerp, where the sole motivation was that the victim was Jewish, is both despicable and unacceptable." Earlier in July, some 1,000 people took part in a demonstration organized by Antwerp's Jewish community demanding "zero tolerance" for anti-Semitism in Belgium.
Belgium's Jewish community head, Dr. Joseph Wybran, was shot and killed in Brussels in 1989. Four Jews were wounded in 1982 when gunmen opened fire on a Brussels synagogue. Both attacks were blamed on Palestinian groups.
There has been growing tension in Antwerp between the city's Muslim and Jewish communities, especially in the past four years of escalating violence between Israelis and Palestinians.
The number of Jewish residents of Antwerp is estimated to be between 15,000 to 20,000.
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