Here are a few different newspapers spinning the same story: the Arabic European League (AEL)--lots of membership in Belgium and Netherlands--has "warned" traders in Antwerp that they could be the next target of a terrorist attacks.
The majority of traders in Antwerp are Jewish with strong ties to Israel.
Newspaper accounts differ from calling it "Islamic fundamentalist threat" to "Hamas" to a general "terrorism threat"
This was an aspect I didn't expect to cover in Antwerp initially, but from my reporting there, tensions at the business person-to-person level between Muslims and Jews was very little. But so is the interaction. The majority of traders are Hindu, not Muslim. Though these supposed threats are not from the immediate community.
For the most part, people felt (obviously i'm not there now) very safe and had little to say about March 11. September 11, was tragic, they said, but far away.
This is a blurb from a diamond industry trade magazine published by the International Diamond Exchange.
Antwerp's diamond traders fear terror attacks
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=24&story_id=6478
This is the belgium expats mag's take
Antwerp Security Tightened Following Threats
http://www.idexonline.com/start.asp
Reuters
Belgium Investigates Email Threats Against Jews
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=4794541
Israeli news
Belgian Jews Threatened By Euro-Arab League
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=60711
Antwerp Security Tightened Following Threats
(April 8, '04, 10:56 Edahn Golan)
Antwerp police has beefed up security after the Arab European League (AEL) said it could become a target of a Hamas terrorist attack if the local Jewish community did not denounce Israel and its policies.
Ahmed Azzuz, the AEL's local leader, was quoted in an interview saying Hamas planned to attack foreign targets following the assassination of Sheik Ahmed Yassin adding that Antwerp was an “obvious target”.
“The diamond sector openly supports the Zionist regime,” Azzuz said in the interview, adding, “Every year 200 Belgian-Israeli reservists leave for Israel to kill innocent civilians”.
The Diamond High Council (HRD) has filed a complaint against the AEL, accusing the group of “intimidation” and “threatening behavior”.
“It is the first time the diamond sector has been named as a target in such an explicit manner,” HRD Managing Director Peter Meeus told Reuters.
Antwerp's diamond traders fear terror attacks
BRUSSELS - Businesses in Antwerp's famous diamond traders' district fear they could soon be targeted by an Islamic fundamentalist terror attack, the Belgian press reported on Thursday.
The majority of Antwerp's diamond traders are Jewish. They say have been particularly concerned since the Arab European League (AEL) warned they could be considered a terrorist target.
"Ever since the AEL made its statements, we have obviously been asking ourselves questions," diamond industry spokesman Peter Meeus told La Libre Belgique.
"The quarter was already targeted in 1981, when terrorists attacked a Portuguese synagogue," he added.
Meeus wants the Belgian government to step up even further the already tight security measures in place in the diamond sellers quarter, which is near to Antwerp's main station.
The AEL insisted that it was not trying to threaten Antwerp's diamond traders but warn them.
"We want to warn Antwerp's Jewish community in its entirety to be on its guard. The community's support for Israel is no secret," Ahmed Azzuz, head of the AEL in Belgium told La Libre Belgique.
"It could therefore be targeted because of its support for Zionism, in the same way that innocent people in Spain paid for their leaders' pro-American policies during the war in Iraq.
"We are not anti-Semitic. It is recent events that have led us to sound the alarm bell," he added.
Belgium Investigates Email Threats Against Jews
ANTWERP, Belgium (Reuters) - Belgium is investigating a series of e-mail threats against the local Jewish community to avenge Israeli attacks against the Palestinian militant group Hamas, a spokeswoman said on Friday.
Investigators were looking into the e-mails sent to the prime minister's office and several newspapers that threatened attacks on Jews in the northern port city of Antwerp.
"We have opened a file and we are checking it out," Lieve Pellens, spokeswoman for the federal prosecutor's office, said.
"We don't really give it that much importance," she said, adding the office received such reports regularly.
The daily Gazet Van Antwerpen reported that e-mails sent on April 1 threatened to attack the Jewish community, as well as buses, trams, and shops.
The messages contained the name of Abdelkarim el Mejjati, suspected of being one of the masterminds behind the Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people, it said.
Mejjati is also suspected of being the operational leader of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, which investigators blame for last year's bombings in Casablanca.
Gazet Van Antwerpen said the e-mails carried the mobile phone number of a group of Cameroon students. The newspaper contacted the students who denied any knowledge of the threats.
Antwerp is the world's largest diamond distribution center and many members of the port city's orthodox Jewish community of about 20,000 work in the business.
Earlier this week, the diamond sector called for extra security after a local Arab militant group said the industry could be attacked by Islamic militants if the Jewish community did not denounce Israeli policies against Palestinians.
Antwerp police say they have increased protection.
Israel killed the wheelchair-bound Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in a helicopter strike on March 22, accusing him of being behind suicide bombings in the Jewish state.
Since the start of the latest Palestinian uprising in 2000, Belgian Jews have complained of a rise in anti-Semitic violence and virulent anti-Israeli propaganda.
Belgian Jews Threatened By Euro-Arab League 15:13 Apr 09, '04 / 18 Nisan 5764
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=60711
Belgium's Jews, in particular Antwerp's Jewish diamond merchants, have been put on notice by the Arab European League (AEL).
"We want to warn Antwerp's Jewish community in its entirety to be on its guard. The community's support for Israel is no secret," Ahmed Azzuz, head of the AEL in Belgium told the Belgian newspaper La Libre Belgique.
"The AEL calls on the Jewish community in Antwerp to cease its support of, and distance itself from, the state of Israel. If not, attacks in Antwerp are almost unpreventable," Azzuz had earlier told the Belgian Flemish magazine Knack, adding, "Every year, 200 Belgian-Israeli reservists leave for Israel to kill innocent civilians."
According to an Israel Channel 1 television report, the Jewish community is taking the threats seriously, and has already contacted elected Jewish officials, the local police and the nation's justice minister. A member of the Belgian diamond merchant's community interviewed on the program confirmed reports that members of the Jewish community are afraid and at present, refrain from being outdoors during the nighttime hours.
Peter Meeus reminded La Libre Belgique, "The quarter was already targeted in 1981, when terrorists attacked a Portuguese synagogue."
The AEL's Azzuz insisted in the media that his statements were not threats.
A spokeswoman for Antwerp police said rigorous security measures had already been introduced.