An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man was stabbed in the neck while walking through an underpass in Antwerp's Jewish quarter on Saturday morning. The motive for the crime remains unclear. The 31-year-old victim was treated for his wounds and released from hospital. He was walking to synagogue at about 10:00 a.m. when a man he did not recognize stabbed him and fled. A suspect was arrested after the incident but then released after it was determined that he had no connection to the stabbing. Security camera footage shows the attacker, who appears to be a white male, running away from the scene of the crime. The Belgian police have not yet determined whether the stabbing was an anti-Semitic crime. The possibility of a criminal, rather than anti-Semitic, motive is not considered unlikely, as several similar incidents have occurred in Belgium the past. A few months ago, an arson attempt on a synagogue was assumed to be an anti-Semitic crime but was later proven to be the result of an internal conflict in the community. Some, however, are claiming that the stabbing is reminiscent of the Islamic State group beheadings. The Belgian Jewish community is still on high alert after a shooting in May at the Jewish museum in Brussels, which left four dead, including two Israelis. The suspected shooter, Mehdi Nemmouche, is French of Algerian background and fought with the Islamic State group in Syria. In Belgium as in other parts of Europe, the number of anti-Semitic incidents -- including attacks and protests -- rose sharply during this summer's Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, sparking concern among the European Jewish community. Chief Rabbi of Belgium Abraham Gigi, who is also a representative of the Conference of European Rabbis, said that the Belgian authorities have increased security around Jewish institutions of late and that he trusts them to find the perpetrator of the attack.
