A Belgian company has refused to keep providing insurance to a Jewish kindergarten in Brussels, the European Jewish Association reported on Wednesday.
The company claims the risk of insuring the European Jewish Kindergarten, which is found in the same district of Bruseels as European Union headquarters, is too high given the rise of anti-Semitic attacks across Europe.
AN EJA spokesperson explained: “The insurance agent contacted us a few days ago with the unpleasant news that the insurance company we’ve worked with up to now is not prepared to extend the kindergarten’s insurance policy, in the current situation, due to the high risk entailed by a Jewish institution.”
Worried if the kindergarten will be able to reopen its doors to its 20-30 charges after the Passover holiday, the spokesperson stated that “we will certainly keep looking for an insurance company that will agree to provide us with a policy.”
“In the meantime, we are also calling on European governments to make sure that this issue of protecting the Jews in their countries stays on the agenda. The refusal to insure a kindergarten just because it is Jewish should sound loud alarms for all of Europe’s leaders and stir them to take action.”
The General Director of EJA and the Rabbinical Center of Europe, Rabbi Menachem Margolin, said it is a disgrace that insurance companies, but not European governments, have realized that “Jewish institutions are a target for terrorist attacks and we need to make sure they are protected by security forces.”
“The European countries must provide security arrangements that will satisfy the insurance companies and to come up with an alternative insurance plan tailored specifically for institutions that are threatened by anti-Semitism,” Margolin added.
“It is shameful that we have reached such a state,” he continued. “At first they do not do enough to protect the Jewish institutions in Europe despite recurring requests and warnings. Then the insurance companies use the excuse of the security situation as a way to avoid insuring kindergartens. This reality is surreal and cynical.”
