Belgian Jewish Charlotte van Coevorden: ‘As a Jew you must be on the side of Israel. It’s pure tribalism’

Opinion maker on the Israeli-Palestinian issue – the status happened to her. Since October 7, Belgian-Jewish Charlotte van Coevorden has felt the urge to speak out and commit: for peace and compassion for the Palestinians, but with understanding for Israel and Zionism. “We must transcend the binary view of the conflict.”

A photo shoot for Knack on the busy Muntplein? Charlotte van Coevorden doesn’t make a fuss about it. Why not? She has lost her anonymity since she entered the public debate on the Gaza crisis two weeks ago, as co-author of a trilingual open letter.

She was responding to another letter, more specifically a fiery opinion piece from the Forum of Jewish Organizations (FJO) and the Comité de Coördination des Organizations Juives de Belgique (CCOJB). According to these umbrella organizations, the Belgian government has been pursuing a rabidly anti-Israeli course since October 7. It will come as no surprise that they have great difficulty with the communication of Minister of Development Cooperation Caroline Gennez (Vooruit). But Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (Open VLD) is also being severely punished for his voice critical of Israel in Europe.

According to the FJO and the CCOJB, our government is turning a blind eye to the danger of Hamas and opening the door to anti-Semitism, a plague that has reached alarming proportions since October 7. Belgium, it is said dramatically, is letting the Jewish community down with its criticism of Israel.

Not according to Charlotte van Coevorden and Dan Sobovitz, an Israeli who lives in Brussels and with whom Van Coevorden launched the response. They call equating criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism an aberration that threatens democracy and freedom of expression. Their sharpest words are about representativeness: they do not accept that the FJO and the CCOJB pretend to speak on behalf of the Jewish community of Belgium.

Progressive and secular

“There is no such thing as the Jewish community in Belgium,” says Charlotte van Coevorden as we sit in a coffee bar after the photo session. ‘The FJO and the CCOJB represent Jewish institutions and, by extension, citizens. This time they came out together, but in fact they are very different. The FJO mainly represents Antwerp’s religious Jews, while the CCOJB is secular like the vast majority of Jews in Brussels and Wallonia. But not all Jewish associations are affiliated with either umbrella organization. Opinions in our community vary widely, from unconditional support to criticism and total rejection of Israel.’

Why did they publish the open letter in their own name? Wouldn’t it have been a more powerful signal with the support of Another Jewish Voice (EAJS) and the Union for Progressive Jews in Belgium (UPJB)? These are two organizations with a critical view of the Zionist project of the State of Israel that have been conspicuously present at pro-Palestinian demonstrations in recent months. “We didn’t want to end up in the small left corner,” says Van Coevorden. ‘I respect their activism, but these are organizations that only represent a fraction of Belgian Jews. The majority in our community has moved significantly to the right in recent years.’

“We would also deter moderately progressive Jews by associating with EAJS or the UPJB. As a progressive, secular Jewish woman myself, I have difficulty with some of their positions. In their communications they never call for the release of the hostage citizens. That bothers many of us, you wouldn’t expect something like that from a Jewish organization that waves Palestinian flags. I think we have found a balanced tone, we were already under fire from both sides. According to some, we were far too hard on Israel, while others said we did not pay enough attention to the suffering in Gaza.’

Bergen Belsen

Van Coevorden has no illusions, her initiative will not tilt the debate. Several dozen Belgian Jews have endorsed the letter. Only the authors know who they are. “We have decided not to reveal their identity, as is customary with an open letter,” she says. ‘It is very sensitive, I can speak to it myself. Certain members of my family refuse to talk to me anymore. Many progressive Jews experience the same thing. Do you criticize Israel or the army, the IDF? Then go fight with Hamas, is the response. It is pure tribalism, as a Jew you apparently have to be on the side of Israel. I’ll pass for that.’

And yet Van Coevorden calls himself a Zionist. To understand this, we must outline her biography. She was raised by a single mother with a name that does not immediately sound Jewish to Belgian ears. “We come from the Netherlands,” she says. ‘We are descendants of German and Portuguese Jews who fled to the Low Countries during the Inquisition. I still have family there, but not much anymore. About half of Mom’s family was murdered in Auschw, Itz and Bergen Belsen.’

Her identity has many layers: a real Brussels native, French-speaking at home, a school career in both national languages ​​that ended up at the ULB via Linkebeek, Brussels, Ghent, Michigan and New York. Today she works as a marketer at a Flemish media group. “My mother has always been very critical of Israel,” says Van Coevorden. ‘Zionism had a negative connotation in our house. She especially did not want to give me a Jewish upbringing. A Jewish school, the Jewish youth movement? No way. Hanukkah was not celebrated, she thought it was militant liberal religious nonsense. Curiously, that objection did not apply to Christmas (laughter). Apart from two short family visits, we have never been to Israel. I did do my bat mitzvah, but a secular version. As a result, my best friends are non-Jewish. Many did not even know that I am Jewish, certain colleagues only found out after the publication of that open letter.’

Anti-Semitism? It is not completely absent from her biography. At school in Ghent, some miscreants liked to play gas chamber with a lighter when they crossed her, a cheerful newcomer who stood out with her Brussels accent. ‘Oh well,’ she says with a shrug, ‘that gives you a strong character. I never felt unsafe.’

Safe haven Israel

Everything also changed for Van Coevorden on October 7, when Hamas fighters murdered 1,200 Israelis and took away 250 hostages, kicking off the bloody Gaza war. She was brutally reminded of her identity. Looking away from the drama was not an option, but what position should she take as a progressive, secular Belgian Jewish woman? “I started to feel like I had to deny my identity to join certain groups,” she says. ‘That I had to sympathize with people who justify the killing of Israelis as “noble resistance”. Because that is the reality: the acceptance of Jews in some pro-Palestinian circles does not depend on shared values, but on the rejection of Jewish self-determination and the bond with Israel. I was expected to renounce all understanding of Zionism and the Jewish presence in Israel-Palestine. I do not want that.’

Define her Zionism? Difficult question. Does it have to do with the belief that despite everything, Israel is the only place where Jews are truly safe? ‘Safe?’ she bounces back. ‘We saw on October 7 how safe Jews are in Israel. I think the chance of a pogrom in Belgium is much smaller.” And yet. The notion of a safe haven for Jews does not leave her cold, although it is unclear whether Israel is a geographical or mental space. “I cherish the idea that you can go there if things go completely wrong here again,” she says. “That is a privilege, and it is a painful realization that Palestinian refugees do not have even that.”

After our conversation, Van Coevorden emails this well-considered reflection. ‘Like many Jews, I define Zionism as the right to self-determination in our historic land, rooted in age-old religious practices such as the declaration “next year in Jerusalem” during Passover and Yom Kippur. For Jewish progressives like me, Judaism is synonymous with social justice. I then ask myself: does Israel stand for the values ​​of social justice? When I look at what has happened in recent decades, especially after the assassination of President Yitzhak Rabin in 1995 and especially during the last few months, I am inclined to think not. That creates a conflict between two aspects of my Jewish identity. That is why I, along with many progressive Jews, criticize Israel, not as a rejection of my Jewish identity but as an expression of it.’

Women Wage Peace

The feeling of abandonment among kindred spirits, progressive Jews with ambivalent feelings about Israel, runs like a thread through the conversation. “We feel abandoned by the traditional left in Belgium,” she confirms. ‘In those circles, Gaza is reduced to a binary conflict, a battle between good and evil. That is a lazy view of people who shout loudly but are not really involved. You need to have skin in the game, they say, you must have something to lose. As a Jew you inevitably have to skin in this debate.’

‘One of my friends grew up in Kfar Aza, a kibbutz where a terrible massacre took place on October 7. Everyone in our community has friends or family who were drafted as reservists. But I am not blind to the other side, I also meet Palestinians from Gaza in Brussels. We must transcend the binary view of the conflict.”

Van Coevorden is conducting her own crusade on social media. Don’t pass up memes that intertwine swastikas with Stars of David. She counters triumphant selfies of IDF soldiers in a devastated part of Gaza, hijacked to illustrate what kind of monsters they are, with an open question. Why do you always spread negative messages? Why Do you not pay attention to courageous initiatives to stop the bloodshed, such as Women Wage Peace in which Israeli and Palestinian women work together for peace?

She herself has joined Standing Together, another Israeli-Palestinian grassroots organization that fights against extreme polarization in Israel. ‘They are also active internationally,’ says Van Coevorden. ‘I am going to join the newly established Belgian department. Since October 7, I have felt the need to commit myself. The open letter and this interview are a catalyst, there is no way back.’

Of course she also does it for her children. Four and six, too young to understand the situation. Still, her eldest daughter asked for an explanation about the Israeli flag with the red stripe through it that she had spotted on the glass door of a Brussels convenience store. Were Jews no longer welcome there? “They are aware of their identity,” she says. ‘I sent them to the Jewish youth movement to avoid them having to grow up like me without friends with whom they can experience their Jewish identity for granted. But I consciously sent them to a Dutch-speaking school, because I attach great importance to interaction with other communities.’

‘I do worry about anti-Semtism, without it thus claiming that other forms of racism such as Islamophobia are less serious. But what if it becomes too unsafe for my children in a regular school? Unlike Jewish institutions, they are not extra guarded. It would feel like an ultimate failure if I felt obliged to send them to a Jewish school.’