Staff at a Belgian bowling alley have been fired after an antisemitic incident targeting a group of Jewish players.
Five young men paid for a round of tenpin bowling at Gamestate Bowling in Antwerp on Sunday. But when they checked into the lane they were allocated they found that the digital display did not show their names but a message stating “5 joden,” meaning five Jews.
The players, all aged 18 and wearing kippot, complained to staff at the bowling alley, which is part of a Dutch chain with branches across Europe – but to no avail. They later reported that they were ignored throughout their interactions with staff.
The bowling alley had previously been flagged to Belgian campaign group Stop Antisemitisme after a member of staff was seen wearing a t-shirt with the word ‘Palestine’ emblazoned across the front instead of the company’s required uniform.
Baroness Regina Sluszny, a Holocaust survivor and president of the country’s Forum of Jewish Organisations, described the incident as “very shocking” in a phone call with Jewish News.
“This kind of thing should not happen in Belgium,” she said, adding that levels of antisemitism have skyrocketed since the events of October 7 2023 and the war in Gaza.
“This shouldn’t be happening in Belgium,” she said. “They’ve imported everything here and nobody does anything about it.”
In a statement sent to Jewish News, Roel Veltmeijer, CEO of Gamestate, confirmed that the staff involved were dismissed as soon as the incident came to light.
“At Gamestate, we are shocked and disappointed by the incident that took place at our location in Antwerp, in which two employees acted in a racist and antisemitic manner,” he said. “We offer our sincere apologies to anyone who feels hurt or excluded by this.”
Veltmeijer went on to say that this behaviour was not in line with the values of Gamestate “where inclusivity, respect and fun are paramount”.
He said the firm was “doing everything we can to prevent such incidents in the future” and stressed its commitment to “diversity and inclusion”. He added: “This incident only strengthens our determination.”
Antwerp is home to Belgium’s largest Jewish community, around two thirds of which is Charedi. Last year the Simon Wiesenthal Centre warned of a “significant rise” in antisemitism, saying the community had experienced a five-fold rise in hate-fuelled incidents since October 7.
At the time, Daniel Schuster, the organisation’s senior representative for Europe, said: “If Belgian authorities allow antisemitism to continue rising unchecked, the future for Jews in this country will be in jeopardy.”
