Police in the Belgian town of Artselaar, near Antwerp, have ignored and minimized a grave anti-Semitic attack, said the lawyer of a Jewish women and her friend who last month were hospitalized after being brutally beaten by racist neighbors.
In a conversation with Jewish magazine Joods Actueel in Antwerp, lawyer Mischael Modrikamen called for an investigation by a parliament committee monitoring police activities and urged the Interior Minister to react to this incident.
Problems started after Ruth Sverdloff, a former Israeli tennis champion, and her Flemish girlfriend, Cindy Meul, took up residence in a building in Aartselaar beginning of May. The next day Ruth put a mezuzah (a parchment prayer tube affixed on the door of every Jewish home) to the door of the apartment.
From then on, they were constantly harassed by neighbors yelling every night. “They banged on the walls and shouted the most horrific anti-Semitic slogans," said Cindy Meul, like "stinking Jews", "we do not want Jews in this building" or "Jews should fuck off."
Police were called but nothing changed. "I had to send my daughter to her grandparents because the child was too scared to stay here any longer," said Ruth.
The situation escalated after two neighbors invaded the apartment on May 24 and beated Cindy Meul, who at that time was alone at home, leaving her bleeding profusely.
The unfortunate woman was taken to hospital with a broken nose and several bruises. She was treated for two weeks.
According to Joods Actueel, the situation was really ‘’hallucinating’’ when it appeared that the police in Artselaar decided to dismiss the case as "unimportant."
‘’When the ambulance took Cindy Meul at hospital, she saw a policewoman laughing and chatting with the aggressors,” Modrikamen told the Jewish magazine.
When Ruth Sverdloff made her complaint to police, she was reportedly told by a police officer: "This is Flanders and you must speak Flemish," because she spoke English.
Only after Joods Actueel and the Israeli TV made the case public, the two victimes were questioned by police and a report was written, one month after the aggression.