Belgium drops case against cafe owner who welcomed dogs but not Jews

Prosecutors in Belgium dropped criminal complaints against a café owner who put up a sign banning Jews.

A café in the town of Saint-Nicolas had displayed a sign saying dogs are welcome at his business, “but Jews are not.”

The prosecutor’s Office in Liege dropped discrimination charges filed in 2014 against the owner, who was not named in the report.

The Turkish text of the offensive sign reads, “Dogs are allowed in this establishment but Jews are not under any circumstances.” The French text replaces “Jews” with “Zionists.”
The window display, put up while Israel was fighting Hamas in Gaza, also included a Palestinian flag, an Israeli flag crossed out with a red “X” and a kaffiyeh, or Palestinian shawl, draped around it.

Saint-Nicolas Mayor Jacques Heleven dispatched police to the café when word of the display got out. He said that such antisemitism is “unacceptable”.

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