There was no waffling by the Mayor of the Belgian city of Bruges. He has asked for an inquiry after an American Jewish tourist Marcel Kalmann was ousted from a café-restaurant because he was wearing a kippa or skullcap. Is it me...or do this incidents seem to be much more frequent than in the past?U.S. Jew says kicked out of Belgian cafe for wearing kippah By Haaretz Service Tags: Belgium, Jews, U.S. A U.S. professor who was born in Auschwitz just before the concentration camp's liberation in 1945 said he was kicked out of a restaurant in the Belgian city of Bruges two weeks ago because he was a Jew, according to European news reports. Marcel Kalmann said that a waiter at the Le Panier d'Or, a renowned café-restaurant located on the main city square, saw his skullcap under his hat and shouted at him "We are not serving Jews, out of here," according to the reports. Kalmann told the Antwerp Jewish magazine Joods Actueel that when he went down to the police station to file a report, the officers did not believe him at first and heckled him throughout the complaint. Advertisement An officer told him that the complaint had to be filed in Flemish, not English, and then told him that the incident would not be considered an anti-Semitic offense, according to a report in the European Jewish Press (EJP). The owner of the restaurant told Joods Actueel that Kalmann was indeed kicked out of the restaurant due to "strange behavior." He said he was ready to apologize for the incident, according to the report. Kalmann said he would file a complaint against both the police and the restaurant, according to the magazine. Kalmann was born in Auschwitz three days before the liberation of the Nazi camp by the Russian army, according to the EJP. There are about 40,000 Jews living in Belgium today, most of them in Antwerp or Brussels. Last year saw a substantial rise in the number of anti-Semitic incidents in Germany, Austria and the Scandinavian countries, according to the Global Forum Against Anti-Semitism. The Global Forum - a joint effort of the Jewish Agency, the Foreign Ministry and the Prime Minister's Office - counted 360 anti-Semitic incidents in France in 2006, compared to 300 in 2005. In the United Kingdom, the report listed a yearly decrease from 321 incidents in 2005 to 312 incidents in 2006. Russia recorded 300 incidents in 2006 compared to 250 the preceding year, and Austria saw a jump from 50 incidents to 83 last year. The Scandinavian countries saw 53 incidents in 2006, substantially more than the previous year's 35.
The report cited a 60-percent rise in incidents in the Berlin area, although it did not include figures for all of Germany
a friend of mine send me this info, i pass on to you. he says the JTA
ReplyDeletestory was NOT accurate....i wonder if you can add this update to your
blog. antisem is real, but in this case, the man was a goofball, i
think,.....maybe.....
dont' always believe what you read, my friends says, and my friends is
a son of a rabbi from NYC.
KEY HERE; *****Contacted by 'Joods Actueel', the owner of Le Panier d'Or
acknowledged that Kalmann was kicked out. He said he was ready to
apologize but added that the client had a "strange behaviour." The
restaurants in the area spoke rather of a quarrel about "outrageous
prices."
Ellen Goldstein, Brooklyn
pass on please FWD to JEWISH C l boggers
http://news.aol.com/photos/_p/marcel-kalmann/20080206121909990005
http://www.ejpress.org/article/news/24140
ANTWERP (EJP)---The Mayor of the Belgian city of Bruges has asked for
an inquiry after an American Jewish tourist was ousted from a
café-restaurant because he was wearing a kippa or skullcap. OR WAS IT
ARGUMENT ABOUT MONEY FIRST?
On a visit to Bruges two weeks ago, Marcel Kalmann, a 64-year-old US
professor, entered Le Panier d'Or, a renowned café-restaurant located
on the main city square, to have a coffee.
When the waiter saw his kippa under his hat, he told him to get out.
"We are not serving Jews, out of here," he allegedly shouted.
In shock, the man went to another café nearby where the owners helped
him to call police. An operator told him that police patrols do not go
out for such cases and advised him to call on a police station.
According to the account given by Kalmann to "Joods Actueel", a Jewish
magazine in Antwerp, at the police station a policeman first made
clear that he didn't believe his story. ******
Later, an officer indicated that a complaint can only be stated in
Flemish and not in English, adding erroneously that anti-Semitic
offense doesn't exist in Belgian law.
An angry Kalmann told the magazine that he is planning to lodge a
complaint against the owner of the café-restaurant and against the
police.
*****Contacted by 'Joods Actueel', the owner of Le Panier d'Or
acknowledged that Kalmann was kicked out. He said he was ready to
apologize but added that the client had a "strange behaviour." The
restaurants in the area spoke rather of a quarrel about "outrageous
prices."
Patrick Monaert, Mayor of Bruges, has asked police for an inquiry and
apologized to Kalmann for the "inadequate behaviours" which, he said,
"are contrary to the welcoming image the city intends to give."
The Jewish community in Antwerp was all the more outraged and moved by
this anti-Semitic incident that Kalmann was born in Auschwitz three
days before the liberation of the Nazi camp by the Russian army.
Around 40,000 Jews live in Belgium, mainly in the capital Brussels and Antwerp.
-----------------
POSTER: :I've just read on Engage thatt his story is not true. Does
anybody know anything about it?"
February 11, 2008 10:34 AM
Anonymous said...
I am following this story. It appears that the Professor was angry
about the high prices and started arguing with the waiter about the
money......and THIS is what led to his being kicked out, not his
Jewish religion or his yarmulke......and being born in SS camp had
nothing to do with this. He might be a liar. There are good Jews and
there are bad Jews. Like all people. he might be a crazy kind of guy.
check into this.
KEY HERE:
since they charged him 3 times the going rate for coffee, he probabluy
became angry, as Americans do and started crying . he is an old man,
after all, this had nothing to do with being Jewish...Ａ
Joods Actueel contacted him and he didn't deny that he kicked out the
man, but said ***he did so because the man acted peculiarly. ****
Realizing that there might be consequences the waiter said that he was
willing to apologize to the professor if he would so wish.
Sir,
you got the news wrong. this man was angry that the price of coffee in
this five star restaurant was very high, for all people, and he got
angry and made a stink and that is why he was kicked out. Not because
he was a Jew or wearing a kippa. Get the facts correct before you JUMP
to conclusions. i might also ask of you, sir, what is wrong with your
world, that you JUMP so quick without finding out the truth of this
sad story. the man was a crazy old skunk who was angry about money.
MONEY! not about his yarmulke at all, have you never heard of Jews
like that?
The story should have been reported:
Marcel Kalmann, a 64-year-old US professor, told the Antwerp Jewish
magazine Joods Actueel that he was ejected from the renowned
restaurant Le Panier d'Or in Bruges after he became angry about the
high price of coffee the waiter was charging him.
When the waiter saw his yarmulke under his cap, he used this detail to
call the man a Jew, but that was not the reason the man became angry
in the first place.
this story has been blown completely out of proportion, the man was a
jerk. and acted like an Ugly American, not like a Jew. his religion
had nothing to do with it
check the facts. o i forgot, facts are not important anymore. pure
emotion is all that counts. esp in regard to antisem, which
is real