No Brussels for security reasons. This is how the Israeli government justified Sunday night the cancellation of Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli's planned visit to Brussels today. The decision was made "in light of specific warnings and in accordance with the instructions of the security authorities," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet said.
Minister Chikli wrote on X that he "regretted receiving instructions from security officials to cancel" his participation in an event commemorating the Holocaust at the European Parliament. "Unfortunately," the post continued, "the capital of Europe, Brussels, has become a dangerous place for Jews and Israelis. Israeli sources told The Courier that it was Israel's security services, not Belgium's, that alerted the Tel Aviv government. Chikli was due to take part in a Memorial Day event on anti-Semitism organized by two EPP MEPs, Andrey Kovatchev and Lukas Mandl, in cooperation with the European Parliament and the European Jewish Association, entitled "Never Again? Indoctrinating Jew-hatred: What has changed in 80 years?" Chikli was the keynote speaker, which is why - according to MEP Andrey Kovatchev's team - the event was canceled.
In recent days, Chikli's participation had been objected to by more than 40 relatives of the Israeli hostages taken by Hamas on October 7, and by 32 leaders of Jewish communities from different countries, who sent a letter to the two organizers, EU Parliament President Roberta Metsola and EPP Group Leader Manfred Weber, called the Israeli Minister for the Diaspora "an inappropriate representative" for his opposition to the cease-fire agreement, his "support" for far-right European politicians, and his public statements calling for the expulsion of people from Gaza and southern Lebanon, which they said amounted to support for "ethnic cleansing. "Minister Chikli's extremist and divisive positions do not reflect the values or voices of the Israeli public at large or Jewish communities around the world," the letter said, as quoted by Euronews. "On the contrary, her participation in this event," it continued, "risks tarnishing the important message of the conference and undermining the credibility of the EU Parliament's efforts to combat anti-Semitism and hatred.