Imam recites Quran at Belgian parliament, calls for killing, kidnapping of Jews

A Belgian national flag flies over the Royal Palace

An Imam at the Belgian parliament last week began reciting a verse from the Quran that explicitly calls on Muslims to kill and take Jews captive.

The Quran excerpt is verse 26 from the Surah. It translates to, “ And He brought down those from the People of the Book who supported the enemy alliance from their own strongholds, and cast horror into their hearts. You ‘believers’ killed some, and took others captive.”

Within the Quran, Jews are referred to as the “People of the Book.”

The event on Tuesday was not organized by the parliament, but rather at the initiative of Hasan Koyuncu, a member of parliament within the socialist party and vice president of the Francophone Parliament in Brussels, along with the Friends Of Brussels association.

Performance led to condemnations

Secretary of State of the Brussels Capital region Nawal Ben Hamou left the event during the incident.

Cover of a Quran (credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Cover of a Quran (credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Israel’s ambassador to Belgium Idit Rosenzweig commented on Twitter that she is “absolutely horrified” over the incident. “He could have chosen anything else, not a frightening symbolic message to anyone who knows the Quran, straight from the parliament podium,… in Brussels’ parliament, a city with 18,000 Jews who are already experiencing increased antisemitism and fear.”

The imam who recited the Surah is Qari Muhammad Ansar Norani.

Between October 7 and December 7, Belgium’s anti-discrimination agency, Unia, registered 91 reported incidents related to the conflict, far exceeding the 57 recorded for all of 2022. Of the 91 incidents, 66 were antisemitic in nature, and eight were anti-Islamic or anti-Arab.

Belgium’s 29,000 Jews are primarily based in Brussels and Antwerp, according to the World Jewish Congress.