Recently in Belgium Category

"The raids, the result of an investigation that began last year, reflected Syria’s growing allure to militant Islamist fighters who see Syria as a prime battleground." "Belgian Police Arrest 6 on Charges of Recruiting for Syrian Insurgency," by James Kanter and Rick Gladstone for the New York Times, April 16 (thanks to Alexandre):

BRUSSELS — The authorities in Belgium raided 48 homes nationwide on Tuesday and detained six men implicated in what prosecutors described as a jihadist recruitment drive for the insurgency in Syria, where an increasingly international array of rebels is fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad.

Activist groups reported the discovery of at least 31 bodies, some burned or handcuffed, in a suburb of Aleppo.

The raids, the result of an investigation that began last year, reflected Syria’s growing allure to militant Islamist fighters who see Syria as a prime battleground. The foreign jihadist element in the insurgency has alarmed Western powers that want to see Mr. Assad step down but do not want him replaced by an Islamist militant government or stateless mayhem.

Some of the most fearless jihadist groups in Syria have foreign fighters, most notably the Nusra Front, which last week publicly confirmed its alliance with Al Qaeda’s Iraqi branch and pledged fealty to the Qaeda leadership.

The Belgian authorities said their investigation focused on a group known as Sharia4Belgium and whether it constitutes a terrorist group. The prosecutor’s office said in a statement that it was aware of 33 people apparently with links to the group from Antwerp and Vilvoorde, a community north of Brussels, who were either in Syria or en route.

Most foreign jihadists in Syria are believed to come from Turkey, Jordan and Iraq, as well as from the Sahel region of northern Africa. According to the International Center for the Study of Radicalization, a partnership of academic institutions based in London, 140 to 600 Europeans have gone to Syria since early 2011, representing 7 percent to 11 percent of the total number of foreign fighters.

The police raids were in cities that included Antwerp and Brussels and in a number of smaller towns and suburbs in an operation involving 225 officers, the statement by the prosecutor’s office said. They seized cellphones, money and computers.

The investigation showed that recruitments were carried out by directly contacting youths in the street and inviting them to private meeting places in Antwerp, according to the statement.

“The prosecutor’s office regards it as important to attack the structures and the groups that allow young Belgians to go to Syria,” the statement said, adding that the main concern was youths who had Jihadist ideologies rather than those who wanted to help create a democratic Syria....

Sharia justice in Eurabia: "Belgium: 4 Months in Prison for Tearing a Koran," by Cheradenine Zakalwe for Islam Versus Europe, March 6 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

Is Sharia already in force in Europe?

Arne S., originally from Blankenberge, was sentenced on Wednesday, by the criminal court of Bruges, to four months in prison for having torn a copy of the Koran in front of a group of Muslims, in June 2012, in Ostende.

On 8 June last year, in the early evening, the accused participated in a demonstration in Ostende. After the demonstration, he went into a café where he exchanged words with around a dozen Muslims. In front of their eyes, Arne S. tore a copy of the Koran.

According to the statements of the accused, the Muslims threw the sacred [sic] book at his head, which provoked his action. Olivier Ryde, the accused's lawyer, requested this his client be acquitted. According to him, there was no question of any infringement of the law on racism.

Source: RTL.be

So a Muslim mob assaults this guy by throwing a Koran at his head, and he is the one that gets sent to prison? Crazy. The news report says absolutely nothing about the Muslims being punished for the assault.

Here is the monstrous and murderous Jew-hatred of the Leftist/Islamic supremacist alliance on full display. And the mainstream media will still act as if they have the moral high ground. "Antwerp: Protesters chant ‘Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas,'" from the JTA, November 19 (thanks to Blazing Cat Fur):

THE HAGUE - Belgian extreme-right and extreme-left activists participated in a demonstration on Sunday afternoon in Antwerp where some participants reportedly called for Jews to be gassed.

Approximately 150 demonstrators gathered outside the Provinciehuis, a concert hall in the Flemish capital, to protest the Israel Defense Forces Orchestra’s performance there, according to the online edition of the Flemish-Jewish magazine Joods Actueel.

Several demonstrators can be heard chanting “Hamas, Hamas, all Jews to the gas” in recordings from the demonstration, which Joods Actueel posted on its news website. They will be filed to police along with an official complaint over hate speech, the paper reported.

Video thanks to Carl in Jerusalem.

(Thanks to Suzanne)

And that means that Sharia will be Europe's future, and the extinguishing of the Judeo-Christian civilization that has given the world its understanding of human rights -- that is, its understanding of human rights other than that enunciated by Sharia, which denies basic rights to women and non-Muslims, and freedom of speech and of conscience to everyone.

Eurabia Update: "Europe’s Islamization: Brussels local election candidates all Muslims," from PanARMENIAN.Net, October 15 (thanks to Blazing Cat Fur):

PanARMENIAN.Net - Brussels held local government elections October 14.

As Belgium-based Armenian Samvel Avanesyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, one of the central districts of Brussels Sint-Jans-Molenbeek had only Muslim candidates.

The photos of the election campaign posters he took showed the true situation.

“Either Jalal, or Husein, or Muhammad will win the elections. That’s the true image of Europe’s future,” he said.

Avanesyan pointed to the district administration head Philippe Moreau as the only Belgian candidate, who long ago converted to Islam after marrying a Muslim woman.

Yet still Muslim groups in the West, despite their claims to reject the idea that Islam teaches warfare against unbelievers, do nothing to prevent Muslims from getting the crazy idea that it does teach that. "6 Muslims found guilty on terrorism charges," from Geo.TV, June 26 (thanks to David):

BRUSSELS: Six Muslims have been found guilty on charges of terrorism. The leaders of the gang received 11 and 8 years' imprisonment, others were given penalties up to 5 years.

The suspects spread messages of hatred and were talking about possible bomb attacks in Belgium, judges argued.

7 people had to defend themselves against charges of terrorism. All of them had links with a radical mosque in Molenbeek, Brussels. One of them also travelled to Iraq to take part in the "Holy War" against the West a couple of years ago.

When he returned, he and his friends tried to convince other Muslims to take up the arms and take part in the war. For that purpose, they used a website, spreading messages of hatred. During tapped telephone conversations, they talked about bomb attacks in Belgium. The court found this unacceptable, and decided to inflict heavy punishments.

The lawyer of one of the leaders was not too preoccupied. He told reporters that his client is presently in Syria, fighting the Assad regime, and suggested the court to arrest his client there.

One suspect was cleared of all charges. According to the court, he does have extremist ideas, but he was involved in the gang's activities.

Once again, we see the high price of misunderstanding Islam, as another Muslim leader somehow gets the idea that attacks on non-Muslims are called for in Islam. Yet no Muslim group is doing a single thing to try to prevent Muslims from misunderstanding their peaceful, tolerant and pluralistic religion in this way. Now, why is that?

"Leader of Islamist group in Belgium arrested after calling to attack non-Muslims" by Maureen Shamee for EJP, June 9 (thanks to Lachlan):

BRUSSELS (EJP)---The spokesman of a Belgian radical Islamist group, Sharia4Belgium, was arrested on Thursday for posting an Internet video urging attacks on non-Muslims after a woman was detained in Brussels for wearing a face veil.

Fouad Belkacem, also known as Abu Imran, was arrested in Antwerp and remanded in custody on suspicion of breaking anti-discrimination laws and inciting violence.

“He posted a video message on YouTube in which he called on his brothers and sisters to fight against non-believers,” said a spokesman for the Antwerp prosecutor.

Last week protesters from the Islamist group threw metal barriers and bins at a police station in Molenbeek, a Brussels commune, after police attempted to detain women who wore the banned veil in public places.

Belgium, like France, banned the full face veil last year, with offenders facing up to €150 ($188) in fines.

Belkacem is due to appear in court next week.

In February, a court in Antwerp sentenced him to two years and fined him for encouraging violence and stirring hatred towards non-Moslems. However, in accordance with legal procedures in Belgium, he has remained free....

“He confessed to wanting to attack the police because of Belgium's attitude towards Muslims." Funny how no one ever gets attacked because of, say, Egypt's attitude towards Christians, or Iran's attitude toward Bahais.

"Suspected Islamist stabs two policemen in Brussels metro," from AFP, June 9 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

A suspected Islamist stabbed two policemen Friday at an underground station in a Brussels neighborhood where scuffles broke out a week earlier, local media reported.

The two victims, a man and a woman who were attacked during a routine check, did not sustain life-threatening wounds, the reports said.

The attacker was quickly subdued and was found to be carrying documents connected to Shariah4Belgium, an extremist Muslim group active in Belgium, public television said.

“He confessed to wanting to attack the police because of Belgium's attitude towards Muslims,” television said.

Clashes broke out last week in the same Molenbeek neighborhood between police and Muslim youth over the arrest of a young woman wearing a full veil....

Europe's new export: jihad. Note that Reuters puts "terrorism" in sneer quotes when what should really be between quotation marks is "Belgian," since Ebrahim Bali and Ezzeddine Tuhairi almost certainly do not think of themselves as such. Nonetheless, the Belgian government, as full of witless Eurodhimmis as every other European government, is going to bat for them. "Two Belgian "terrorism" suspects detained in Yemen," from Reuters, May 6 (thanks to Voice of the Copts):

(Reuters) - Two Belgian nationals could be deported from Yemen after being detained last month on suspicion of involvement in terrorism, a Yemeni security official and Belgium's Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.

The Yemeni official identified the men as Ebrahim Bali and Ezzeddine Tuhairi, Belgians of Arab descent, and said they were detained on April 13 at Sanaa's airport as they tried to enter the country.

"They were arrested on suspicion of planned terrorist activities in Yemen. We are in a process of negotiation with the Belgian government. We expect them to be deported...within days," the official said.

A Belgian Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed the two men were being held over suspected involvement in "terrorist" activity, and said Brussels was seeking consular access to them.

Yemen's branch of al Qaeda, which has plotted abortive overseas attacks from the country, is of great concern to Washington, which is waging an assassination campaign against alleged members of the group using drone and missile strikes....

Words you hoped you would never have to string together: Sunni-Shi'ite jihad in Belgium. "Brussels Imam killed in petrol bomb attack," from Flanders News, March 13:

A member of the public forced an entry into the building last night setting fire to the building with a petrol bomb. The 46-year-old imam attempted to put out the fire together with a second man, but was caught in the blaze and failed to escape.

The fire-fighters found his body on the first floor.

The attacker was also armed with an axe and a knife.

With the help of an eye witness the police managed to detain a suspect last night. The man is believed to be of North African origins, but Jean-Marc Meilleur of the public prosecutor's office says that his identity still needs to be established with certainty.

Police are still at a loss as to what inspired the attack. The suspect is being questioned.

The mayor of Anderlecht Gaëtan Van Goidsenhoven says that he hopes that this is a one-off attack.

There are suggestions that the suspect has links to a radical Sunni organisation. The suspect is said to have shouted anti-Shi’ite slogans during the attack.

Belgian Interior Minister Joëlle Milquet (Francophone Christian democrat) believes that this is the most likely explanation given the information that she has so far received. The Interior minister points to rising tension in the Middle East and is examining whether the mosque that has been the target of earlier attacks requires extra security.

Belgium’s Muslim Executive, the official representative of the Muslim faith in Belgium in conversations with the authorities, has condemned the attack too. It hopes that this is an isolated incident.

On Monday morning the mayor of Anderlecht is meeting with representatives of the various mosques in the Brussels borough. In the course of the day Interior minister Milquet will also attend crisis talks at the Interior ministry’s crisis unit.

Islamic jihadists are clamoring for a new genocide of the Jews, and the world's guardians of human rights are wringing their hands over "Islamophobia."

"Déjà Jew," by Aaron D. Rubinger in the Jerusalem Post, January 18 (thanks to Rosanne):

...80 years ago, our people were being verbally abused and brutally assaulted in public places. And now it seems to be happening all over again. Viviane Teitelbaum, a minister in the Brussels Regional Parliament, related an incident that occurred this past November involving a 13-year old Jewish girl in Brussels. The girl was brutally assaulted at her school, resulting in her hospitalization for multiple injuries including a concussion. The attackers were not members of the Third Reich’s SS, but a group of female Muslim students at the same school. The ringleader pronounced her to be a “filthy Jew!” Apparently, in the weeks prior to the attack, the girl’s father had approached the authorities and the school with complaints that there had been threats made by fellow classmates against his daughter. Upon hearing that his concerns were simply brushed aside, I immediately thought of Yogi Berra’s famous gaff: “This is like déjà vu all over again!”

2 generations ago, some Jews sought to protect themselves by masquerading as Aryans. In an interview conducted in November, a Parisian mother related how the fear of being physically attacked by Muslim extremist thugs means that it is “not rare at all today” for French Jewish students to attempt to pass themselves off as Muslim - with some even going as far as to fast on Ramadan. One case in point was a Jewish girl of North African descent who for years was successful in this deception, until finally she was “exposed” when Muslim girls caught her eating matzah in the bathroom during Pesah. After her classmates beat her viciously, they invited their male Muslim friends to their school to participate in a gang rape....

There is curiously little on this story elsewhere, but it does call attention again to the existence of "Shariah4Belgium," a group reminiscent of the former "Sharia4UK." They opened a Sharia "court" in Belgium last year.

The "4" means they're cool, or something. "Belgium police detain members of Islamist group over harassment in Antwerp," from United News Network, January 4 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

Brussels (UNN) Belgian police on Wednesday detained 15 members of a radical Salafist Islamic group after they harassed passers-by in the city of Antwerp and shouted anti-Western slogans, police said.

The Sharia for Belgium activists distributed leaflets glorifying Islam and criticizing the Western way of life in a central street of the northern port city Antwerpen.

Organisers had made no request for a demonstration, which was therefore authorised,said the spokeswoman.

When officers asked the demonstrators to identify themselves they refused," she added. "This led to skirmishes but no one was injured."

The group was detained for causing a public disturbance and taken to a police station for identification and questioning.

They were released later on Wednesday but Antwerp Mayor Patrick Janssens has decided to fill a complaint against Sharia for Belgium because, he said, he wants public order to be respected in his city, he said.

Sharia Belgium wants Islamic law to be introduced in Belgium, whose second city of 480,000 inhabitants has a large Muslim community, mainly from Turkey and Morocco, and one of Europe|s biggest Jewish Orthodox communities.

Not many details as of yet, but the Telegraph notes a link to an honor killing case that could indicate that this was yet another act of violence by Misunderstanders of the Religion of Peace. "Belgium grenade attack leaves at least two dead," from the Telegraph, December 13 (thanks to Mick):

At least one person was killed and up to 47 others wounded Tuesday when up to four grenades exploded outside the main courthouse in the eastern Belgian city of Liege.

The attack took place around noon on Saint-Lambert square, home to the town's courthouse and located near a busy Christmas market, Belga news agency said.

A two-year-old child is reportedly fighting for life in hospital. Six other victims are said to be gravely injured.

One of two or more assailants threw stun grenades into the courthouse while another was hurled at a bus shelter, RTL-TV1 said.

Shots were fired across the square by gunmen posted on the rooftop of a bakery shop, with further shots heard later from across town.

Police cordoned off the square and gave chase to the assailants, one of whom was reportedly killed. The gunmen are thought to be hiding in Liege cathedral.

The Karachi Post in Pakistan claimed that the attack was linked to a sentence in an honour killing case. It said the parents of Sadia Sheikh were sentenced on Monday when there had been a bomb alert in the court.

Gaspard Grosjean, a journalist for La Meuse Liege on the scene, told The Daily Telegraph there was panic and confusion on the streets of Liege.

"There is at least one dead and the attacker. Police are looking for another shooter. There are lots of ambulances and many casualties - at least 10 people.

"At the moment you can't move in the city centre. People are crying and in shock - they do not know what is going on. Everyone has been told to stay inside and are hiding in shops."...

UPDATE: One of the attackers was named Nordine Amrani. (Thanks to Robert for the link.) This is a Muslim name. Nordine = nur deen, light of the religion, and Amrani is related to Imran, the father of Moses according to the Qur'an (cf. sura 3, "The Family of Imran," ahl-e-Imran).

SECOND UPDATE: Many more details on the attack here (thanks to Paul).

See step 3 and step 4 as outlined by Nicolai Sennels here. "Islamic Sharia Law Court Opens in Belgium," by Soeren Kern in Hudson New York, September 15 (thanks to David):

An Islamic Sharia law court has been established in Antwerp, the second-largest city in Belgium.

The Sharia court is the initiative of a radical Muslim group called Sharia4Belgium. Leaders of the group say the purpose of the court is to create a parallel Islamic legal system in Belgium in order to challenge the state's authority as enforcer of the civil law protections guaranteed by the Belgian constitution.

The Sharia court, which is located in Antwerp's Borgerhout district, is "mediating" family law disputes for Muslim immigrants in Belgium.

The self-appointed Muslim judges running the court are applying Islamic law, rather than the secular Belgian Family Law system, to resolve disputes involving questions of marriage and divorce, child custody and child support, as well as all inheritance-related matters.

Unlike Belgian civil law, Islamic Sharia law does not guarantee equal rights for men and women; critics of the Sharia court say it will undermine the rights of Muslim women in marriage and education.

Legal experts say the Islamic court will also undercut the state's ability to investigate and prosecute perpetrators of so-called honor crimes. In 2007, for example, Belgium outlawed the practice of forced marriage. Those convicted of forcing someone into marriage by violence or coercion face a prison sentence of up to two years and a fine of up to €2,500 ($3,500). This law is likely to be undermined as Muslim marriage disputes come under the jurisdiction of the Sharia court.

Sharia4Belgium says the court in Antwerp will eventually expand its remit and handle criminal cases as well.

The Sharia4Belgium group consists of Islamists who are committed to bring everyone living in Belgium (including all non-Muslims) under the submission of Islamic Sharia law....

Read it all.

Here is one way Belgium is "building bridges" with its Muslim population. "NGO Monitor slams Belgium funds for ‘anti-Israel’ group," by Benjamin Weinthal for the Jerusalem Post, August 14 (thanks to Tanguy Veys):

BERLIN – The Jerusalem-based watchdog organization NGO Monitor has issued a report alleging that Belgium taxpayer funds are being used to finance ‘anti- Israel’ NGOs, including lawsuits against Israeli officials.

According to the newly released NGO Monitor report on Belgium, the Federal Public Service, an intermediary governmental agency in Belgium, provided payments in 2010 to “political advocacy NGOs that claim a human rights mandate, such as Yesh Din, Public Committee against Torture in Israel (PCATI), and Combatants for Peace (CFP).”

“The transfer of over 800,000 euros in the past three years from Belgian taxpayers to opposition groups, under the façade of promoting peace and human rights, adds to the resentment of many Israelis, including Knesset members.

Many criticize this as manipulative and anti-democratic,” Prof. Gerald Steinberg, the president of NGO Monitor, told the Jerusalem Post.

NGO Monitor charged that Yesh Din – Volunteers for Human Rights used funds to initiate litigation against Israeli officials because of alleged human rights abuses.

The use of foreign money to influence Israel’s political and judicial systems has been the source of a heated debate in the Knesset, including bills designed to promote transparency among foreign funding of NGOs in Israel.

Asked about Belgium’s role in financing Israeli NGOs, Michel Malherbe, a spokesman for the Belgium Foreign Ministry, told the Post, “Belgium does not fund NGOs. We fund specific activities and examine the track record of the execution organization on a number of criteria. Respect for human rights is a major one.

“The project executed by Yesh Din does not include legal action against Israeli officials. It does include filing petitions based on the Israeli Freedom of Information Act.”

According to Yesh Din’s website, the NGO “is an Israeli human rights organization working to achieve long-term structural improvement in the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

We are an independent nongovernmental organization, supported by donations from individuals and institutional donors.”

In an e-mail to the Post on Saturday, Hila Aloni, a representative from Yesh Din, denied that the organization files law suits against Israeli officials.

“As a human rights organization, Yesh Din promotes accountability by the Israeli government, and demands it to do its job of proper law enforcement in the occupied territories, according to both Israeli and international law.

We do not file suits against Israeli officials, but assist Palestinians to petition the Israeli justice system to challenge allegedly illegal or unjust actions taken by Israeli authorities. All of our financial information is completely public and transparent, unlike pro-occupation organizations that do not reveal their funding sources,” Aloni wrote.

For Yesh Din, “A sum of 80,000 EUR has been approved by the Belgians this year, although the money hasn’t been received yet,” she added....

To participate in society, one must be recognizable. To be recognizable, one must show one's face.

It is one thing to be unidentifiable in a society where one is always under the control of a male guardian and a perpetual minor, and therefore not a full participant in society. But the Carnita Matthews case in Australia demonstrated how the surreal masquerade ball of face veils in an open society becomes a vehicle for gaming the system. It becomes a means of selective participation in society at the whim of the wearer (or in other cases, those who make her wear it), and presumes a right to pick and choose her responsibilities in society. That is not equality under the law, either for men and women or Muslims and non-Muslims. "Belgian ban on full veils comes into force," from BBC News, July 23:

A law has come into force in Belgium banning women from wearing the full Islamic veil in public.

The country is the second European Union nation after France to enforce such a ban. Offenders face a fine of 137.5 euros (£121; $197) and up to seven days in jail.

Two women who wear full veils launched an immediate court challenge, saying the law is discriminatory.

France, home to Europe's biggest Muslim population, enforced its ban in April.

Belgium's law bans any clothing that obscures the identity of the wearer in places like parks and on the street.

It was passed almost unanimously by the lower house of parliament in April 2010.

MPs voted with only two abstentions to back the legislation on the grounds of security, to allow police to identify people.

Other MPs said that full face veils such as the burka or the niqab were a symbol of the oppression of women.

But critics of the law say it could end up excluding women, leaving those who do wear the full veil trapped in their homes.

And they say the measures are over the top - estimates suggest only a few dozen women wear this kind of veil in Belgium, out of a Muslim population of about half a million.

What matters is that the practice has grown -- there used to be none. One could just as well find a situation some time from now where the argument would be they can't be banned because so many women wear them. For something that is wrong in principle, why would one have to try to wait until the number is "just right" -- and according to whom?

"We consider the law a disproportionate intrusion into fundamental rights such as the freedom of religion and expression," Ines Wouters, the lawyer representing the two women challenging the ban, told the newspaper La Libre.

She has taken their case to Belgium's constitutional court, where she will request a suspension of the law, AFP news agency reported.

She likened U.S. servicemen to pigs and dogs, and then apologized to the animal world for making the comparison. After all, the unbelievers are "the most vile of created beings" (Qur'an 98:6). "El Aroud loses appeal against eight-year 'jihad' sentence," from AFP, December 1:

A Belgian woman serving an eight-year prison term for leading an Al-Qaeda-linked terror group lost her appeal against her sentence on Wednesday.

Malika El Aroud, the widow of one of the killers of anti-Taliban leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, was jailed in May for leading a group which recruited youngsters in Belgium and France to wage "jihad" in Afghanistan.

During her appeal hearing she denied using a website to encourage Muslims to join the battle against NATO-led forces in Afghanistan, but judges backed the state prosecutor's call for her sentence to be upheld in full, Belga news agency reported.

She also offered an apology during the appeal to the families of American soldiers, having previous [sic] apologised to the animal world for comparing US servicemen and women to dogs or pigs.

Perhaps she had the Qur'anic passages in mind which say that Allah transformed Sabbath-breaking Jews and other People of the Book into apes and pigs (2:62-66; 5:59-60; 7:166).

A second Islamist militant, Muhammed Bastin, saw his 40-month suspended sentence also upheld on appeal.

Aroud's second husband, Moez Garsallaoui, was also sentenced to eight years in May but is on the run.

Her previous husband was one of the men who killed the leader of the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan, two days before the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

Two people were placed under arrest last week in Brussels in connection with a three-year probe into an Iraq and Afghanistan war recruitment drive.

I received the same email from Sharia4Belgium that was sent also to Pamela Geller and Rusty Shackleford:

Name: sharia

Email: sharia4belgium@hotmail.com

Subject: sharia in belgium

Message: i know you dislike that sharia is talking over the world, but
that is a fact, so get used to it!

first great britain, now belgium, then the netherlands, and we will
continue inshaallah until the rule of Allah swt is applied on the
whole world!

www.sharia4belgium.webs.com/

"Belgium terror probe nets 11 arrests," from CNN, November 23 (thanks to all who sent this in):

(CNN) -- Authorities have arrested 11 people in connection with a suspected terror plot targeting Belgium, officials there said Tuesday.

The suspects were using a jihadist website to plan an attack on an unspecified target, police said.

"Long months of undercover investigation" led to the arrests, the authorities said.

It was "clear to us that the target was Belgian soil, just not clear enough to say where and when," Belgian public prosecutor Lieve Pellens told CNN.

Seven of the arrests were in Antwerp, Belgium, she said. One was in Aachen, Germany, and the other three were in the Netherlands. Those arrested are Belgian, Dutch, Moroccan and Chechen, authorities said.

A senior European counter-terrorism official told CNN that members of the group arrested in Antwerp, and their associates in Germany and the Netherlands, had discussed targeting Jews in Belgium as well as NATO vehicles in the country. However, officials say no specific targets appear to have been identified. [...]

Authorities are investigating the links between members of the Antwerp group and Sharia4Belgium, a Belgian Islamist organization, a Belgian counter-terrorism official told CNN. [...]

The sources say police have visited 15 locations in Brussels, Belgium's capital, as part of a continuing investigation into a terrorist cell linked to Bassam Ayachi, who was charged in 2009 with preparing terrorist attacks.

The intentions of that cell are "dangerous but not imminent," Pellens said.

Ayachi, a French citizen, was detained in Italy in 2008. He was head of the Belgian Islamic Center (Centre Islamique Belge or CIB), based in Molenbeek in Belgium.

A senior European counterterrorism official also told CNN that one of the people targeted in the Brussels operation had engaged in jihadist activities in Iraq and returned to Belgium two years ago.

Another chapter in the jihad against Vitamin D, and an update on this story. "Belgium analyses video threat over Muslim veil ban," by Antonia Van de Velde for Reuters, May 6:

(Reuters) - Belgian authorities are analysing a video containing threats to attack the country and other European states if they enforce a ban on full face veils, government officials said on Thursday.

Belgium's lower house of parliament approved a bill last week that would enforce such a ban but it is unlikely to become law soon because the government has collapsed and parliament is due to be dissolved. France is also considering a ban.

A text written in English on a video posted on the Internet says: "If you ban the burqa, hijab or niqab (veils) ... then you will see (a) very dangerous situation in your countries."

It shows veiled women, some armed with guns, armed men and children carrying weapons and ammunition. They did not identify themselves.

Wearing the burqa, hijab or niqab is every Muslim woman's right and governments will pay for their decision to ban the veil, the text of the video says.

A spokesman for the government's crisis centre, which handles security threats, said it had informed Belgium's anti-terrorism body of the potential threat.

"They are carrying out an analysis and could then decide to take measures," the spokesman said.

France, home to Europe's biggest Muslim minority, is planning to debate a draft law from mid-May and ban all face veils in public within months.

Full face veils are extremely rare in Europe, but the number of women wearing them is rising. No exact figures exist but estimates put the totals at about 2,000 in France and a few hundred in Belgium.

More on this story. "Belgium bans burkas: Women who refuse to show faces to be jailed for a week under draft law," from the Daily Mail, April 30:

Belgium became the first European country to impose a full ban on wearing a burka last night.

Its parliament approved a draft law which states women can be jailed for hiding their faces in public.

The bill - which must be rubber-stamped by the Belgian senate - is set to become law by July.

Centre-Right MP Daniel Bacquelaine said last night: 'The notion of recognising people in the street is essential to maintain public order.

'It's also a question of human dignity. The full face veil turns a woman into a walking prison.'

The ground-breaking legislation comes just ten days after an earlier vote on banning the burka was scuppered by the collapse of the country's parliament and resignation of its prime minister, Yves Leterme.

Despite the political turmoil, MPs in the fragile five-party coalition managed to push through the controversial law yesterday evening.

It means anyone will be banned from covering their face in a public place, including the street, shops, offices, schools and hospitals.

Women will be fined £110 for the first offence.

If they refuse to pay or are caught a second time, they can be jailed for a week. It is estimated up to 400 of the country's 280,000 Muslims wear the burka in public.

The move comes as other countries consider bringing in similar legislation. There is widespread support for a ban on burkas, or full face veils, and niqabs, which cover the head and face but leave the eyes visible, in the Netherlands.

In Switzerland, voters recently supported a ban on the construction of new minarets, while France is preparing to vote in July on its own law banning Islamic headwear.

Under French proposals, women would be fined up to £600 for hiding their faces, and be 'unveiled' at a police station so they could be identified.

Husband who forced their wives to wear burkas would be sent to prison....