‘Jews are deserting Antwerp’, headlines De Standaard. The Belgian newspaper predicts that in fifty years there will be no more Jews living in the city. Due to an increase of Anti-Semitism, many young Jews are leaving the city to study in London, New York or Israel, where "working with a skullcap (kippah) isn’t a problem", and they never return. Furthermore, it has become more difficult for them to start a career in Antwerp since the Jewish community has lost its dominant position in the diamond trade and hasn’t found a new economic alternative yet. De Standaard comments: ‘Only the poor Hasidic Jews stay and they refuse to adapt.’
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