JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

2001, a National Commission for Restitution was established
to examine claims and facilitate compensation.
[Daniel Dratwa]
Relations with Israel
Important circles in Belgium displayed sympathy for Zionism
and supported the struggle of the Zionist movement almost
from its beginning. Noteworthy were the active support of
Queen Elisabeth and various Socialist leaders, including Emile
Vandervelde, Camille Huysmans, de Brouquère, and Paul
Henri Spaak. On Nov. 29, 1947, Belgium voted in the UN in
favor of the establishment of a Jewish state and it was among
the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with Israel
(de facto Jan. 31, 1949, and de jure in January 1950). These relations
were subsequently elevated to the ambassadorial level.
The Israel ambassador in Brussels is also accredited in Luxembourg,
which is tied to Belgium through a customs’ pact,
and is attached to the European Economic Community, whose
seat is in that city. Trade relations between Belgium and Israel
developed satisfactorily and tourism also increased, reaching
8,000 people in 1968. Belgium filled a specific role in Israel’s
foreign relations because of its special position in the process
of European integration and the fact that Brussels had become
a sort of “capital of Europe.” Many of Israel’s diplomatic efforts
directed toward the European Community passed through
Belgium, which was either a host or an active participant in
the creation of the new European identity. The official ties
between the two countries included the visit of Queen Elisabeth
and a short visit of King Baudouin, which was mainly a
pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and the visits of President Izhak
Ben-Zvi and prime ministers David Ben-Gurion and Levi
Eshkol to Belgium.
[Yohanan Meroz]
During the 1970s trade between Israel and Belgium continued
to grow. Exports from Belgium (including Luxembourg)
to Israel rose from $115 million in 1972 to $404 million
in 1980, while imports from Israel rose from $49 million to
$236 million. By 2004 the figures were $955 and $695 million,
respectively, excluding diamonds. The movement of diamonds
between the two countries reached $5.5 billion.
In March 1992, elections were held in Belgium to the
Zionist Congress: 3,140 voted (25 percent more than in 1987).
The results showed a shift to the right, possibly because the
leader of the left was involved in organizing a meeting with
Palestinians. The anti-Israel feelings prevailing in the media
since the Lebanon War were still felt among the population
and the flow of tourists going to Israel dropped. One consequence
was the closing of the Israel Tourist Office in Brussels.
The Oslo Accords brought a resurgence of goodwill but the
onset of the second Palestinian Intifada produced a dampening
of official relations, fueled by a hostile press and the presence
of half a million Muslims in the country, as the Belgian
government, professing evenhandedness, regularly voted for
anti-Israel resolutions in international bodies, including the
UN. In 2002 Belgium suspended arms sales to Israel and in
belgorod-dnestrovski
2001 and 2002 the Brussels and Flemish Regions of Belgium
suspended their cooperative agreements with Israel. Tensions
came to a head when war crimes charges were brought against
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel *Sharon in Belgium for his part
in the Lebanon war under Belgium’s “universal jurisdiction”
legislation. Israel withdrew its ambassador. Subsequently the
Belgian Supreme Court ruled that Sharon could not be tried
while serving as prime minister of Israel.
Since 1992, Israel has had two ambassadors in Brussels,
one for the EEC, the other for Belgium.
Bibliography: E. Ouverleaux, Notes et documents sur les
Juifs de Belgique sous l’ancien régime (1885); S. Ullmann, Studien zur
Geschichte der Juden in Belgien bis zum XVIII. Jahrhundert (1909);
idem, Histoire des Juifs en Belgique jusqu’au 19e siècle (1934); E. Ginsburger,
Les Juifs en Belgique au XVIIIe siècle (1932); J. Stengers, Les
Juifs dans les Pays-Bas au moyen âge (1950); E. Schmidt, Geschiedenis
van de Joden in Antwerpen (1963). HOLOCAUST PERIOD: R. Hilberg,
Destruction of the European Jews (1961), 382–9; C. Reitlinger, Final
Solution (19682), 398–408; Belgium, Commission d’enquête sur la
violation des règles du droit des gens…, Les crimes de guerre commis
sous l’occupation de la Belgique 1940–1945: la persécution antisémitique
(1947); Gutfreund, in: Yalkut Moreshet, 2 no. 4 (1965), 43–55; Liebman,
in: Centrale (Bruxelles, March 1964); B. Garfinkels, Les Belges
face à la persécution raciale 1940–1944 (1965); Steinberg, in: Regards,
nos. 29 and 30 (Aug.–Oct. 1968); E. Schmidt, Geschiedenis van de Joden
in Antwerpen (1963). CONTEMPORARY JEWRY: Centre National
des Hautes Études Juives, La vie juive dans l’Europe contemporaine
(1965), with Eng. summ.; J. Gutwirth, in: JJSO, 10:1 (1968), 121–37;
idem, in: Les Nouveaux Cahiers, no. 7 (1966), 56–63; C. Lehrer, in:
L’Arche, no. 62 (1962); S. Brachfeld, Het Joods Onderwijs in België
(1966); A. Tartakower, Shivtei Yisrael, 2 (1966), 225–37. Add. Bibliography:
AJYB (2003).
BELGOROD-DNESTROVSKI (formerly Akkerman; Rum.
Cetatea-Albǎ), city in Ukraine, in the region of *Bessarabia,
on the river Dniester; in Romania 1918–40 and 1941–44. It is
referred to in Jewish sources as Weissenburg and Ir Lavan
(both meaning “White City”). Karaite scholars, including apparently
Caleb *Afendopolo, lived there in the early 16th century,
attesting to the existence of a cultured Karaite settlement
during this period. A Rabbanite community is first recorded
in Belgorod-Dnestrovski in 1591. In 1808, 18 heads of Jewish
families were registered there. According to tradition, a bet
midrash was built there in 1815 and a synagogue in 1828. The
community grew considerably in the 19th century with the arrival
of Jews in Bessarabia from other regions of the *Pale of
Settlement. The Jewish population numbered 2,422 in 1864
and 5,613 in 1897 (19.9% of the total). The Jews in Belgorod-
Dnestrovski were influenced in social and cultural spheres
by the important Jewish center in *Odessa. Most of the Jews
earned their living in the grain trade, which was mainly concentrated
in Jewish hands, but many engaged in crafts. In 1905,
there was a pogrom in which eight Jews were killed. After
Bessarabia passed to Romania in 1918, the Jews in Belgorod-
Dnestrovski developed a flourishing communal and cultural
life, and established cultural and welfare institutions. Jewish
institutions before World War II included a hospital (founded
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