Antisemites attempt to stop Israelis at a music festival in Belgium

The antisemitic climate in Europe  reaches new levels of hostility, this time with an unprecedented accusation: an activist group seeking to criminalize Israeli soldiers demanded that Belgian authorities arrest two alleged members of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) who attended the Tomorrowland electronic music festival in the city of Boom.

The antisemitic organization, known for its campaigns to bring legal action against the State of Israel, issued an incendiary statement in which it accuses the two young people of being "directly involved in serious international crimes", including "genocide" and "war crimes" in Gaza.

Such accusations, categorically rejected by Israel, lack legal basis and reveal a troubling trend of equating Israeli self-defense with historical atrocities, thereby trivializing essential legal concepts such as genocide.

Israel's military operations are fully framed within international law, and every effort is made to avoid civilian casualties in a conflict initiated by Hamas's terrorist attack on October 7, 2023.

The accusations, however, have served as an excuse to harass Israelis abroad, even in recreational and artistic spaces like Tomorrowland, which welcomes more than 400,000 people each year.

The accusing group was also outraged by the display of a Givati Brigade flag, a combat unit of the Israeli army, which some young people waved at the festival.

For the antisemitic activists, this gesture represents a symbol of "impunity and ethnic cleansing," a rhetoric that equates Israeli military pride with crimes against humanity.

These episodes are not isolated. Since its creation, the Hind Rajab Foundation —named after a Palestinian girl who died in Gaza— has promoted doxxing campaigns against Israeli soldiers: it seeks to expose their personal information on social media to prevent them from traveling abroad or to provoke their arrest.

Although without major legal successes, they have managed to generate fear and even pressure members of the Israeli cabinet to cancel trips. The Israeli army, in response, has had to strengthen digital protection measures for its soldiers.

Behind these campaigns lies a discourse increasingly accepted in certain European sectors: the demonization of everything that represents Israel, even ordinary citizens dancing at a festival.

Twenty-first century antisemitism no longer appears with armbands or marches, but with the language of human rights and universal justice —yet it always targets the same group.