Three men assaulted a Jewish man in a Brussels underground train on Friday night and stole his Star of David necklace while cursing Jewish people, the victim said.

Identified only as David, the victim told the RTBF broadcaster that one of his attackers approached him to ask how to get to the Brussels Central Station. Then, the two other perpetrators sat David forcefully down on a seat, hitting his face and knocking away his prescription glasses.

“They were talking about Jewish people while they were hitting me, and it wasn’t to pay compliments,” David, 41, said.

The attackers did not attempt to steal anything else, though they could have gotten his cell phone and wallet. “I think they wanted to take the necklace as a trophy,” he said.

His father had given his son the necklace, which had “a tremendous emotional value,” David said.

David tried to pursue his attackers after they fled the scene, but his vision was limited and they left with the necklace, RTBF reported. David complained to police. He said he hoped that the STIB transportation service that operates the Brussels Metro would help police identify the attackers with images of them taken by the security cameras on the train and in the stations.

UNIA, a Belgian public institution whose mission statement to promote equality, said it registered 277 reports of antisemitic acts in 2024, leading to 79 confirmed cases, compared with 121 reports in 2023, leading to 59 confirmed cases. The tallies for 2021 and 2022 were, respectively, 96 and 57, and 57 and 31.

Last month, the Belgian Defense Ministry deployed army troops to protect Jewish community buildings following a spate of antisemitic attacks.

The Israeli minister for Diaspora affairs and combating antisemitism, Amichai Chikli, has sharply criticized Belgium, describing it and Spain as Europe’s worst countries regarding attitudes toward Israel and rising antisemitism. Chikli has accused Belgium of having systemic antisemitism, saying that the country has “largely fallen” to radical Islamism, and has even advised Jewish students to leave Belgian universities. 

Michel Kotek, head of Belgium’s Jewish Information and Documentation Center, recently told JNS there is a feeling that it “is open season on Jews right now in Belgium” and that “the multiple failures [of authorities] now threaten the future of Belgium’s Jewish community, as well as the fabric of its society.”

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