ANTISEMITIC CHANTS IN FOOTBALL STADIUM IN BELGIUM

GTTO partners in Belgium, the European  Union of Jewish Students, drew attention to an incident at the Beerschot-Antwerp football match on 15 April 2018 when Beerschot Wilrijk supporters sang antisemitic chants and displayed antisemitic banners. Prompted by the Pro League, Beerschot club released a statement assuring everyone that they “sincerely acknowledge Jewish suffering during the Second World War", and as a sign of respect, the delegation from the club will visit the Kazerne Dossin, the Memorial Museum and Documentation Centre on Holocaust and Human Rights in Mechelen, Belgium.

The club also said they would ban supporters with antisemitic banners or who sing antisemetic songs in the stadium, including the word “Jew”. Despite their initial promise to ban anti-Semitism from the club, their social media pages still showed photos of the stadium and their fans with antisemitic posters in subsequent weeks. One such poster called for a ban on the Star of David.  The EUJS subsequently wrote to Antwerp FC pointing out the antisemitic content on their social media pages. Although it was not formally acknowledged all examples were removed from their social media pages. They also reported comments on their Twitter account related to the incident.