Far-right party calls for Jews to join war on Islam

One of Europe's most successful far-right leaders has appealed to Jewish voters to join forces against radical Islam and back a party denounced as xenophobic.

Filip Dewinter, leader of Belgium's Vlaams Belang, described Antwerp's large Jewish community as natural partners "against the main enemy of the moment, the radical Islam, fundamentalism".

Vlaams Belang is expected to win at least a third of the votes in local elections on Sunday and emerge as the largest party in Antwerp, a city with tense race relations and one which has suffered racial murders this year. Mr Dewinter has come to the threshold of political power by advocating strict limits on immigration, including the return of economic migrants who fail to integrate, as well as independence for Flanders, the northern, Dutch-speaking half of Belgium.

He called for radical Islam to be denied official recognition and its supporters, and those who fail to integrate, denied Belgian nationality and possibly social security payments.

So far the Vlaams Belang, or Flemish Interest, now the biggest political force in Flanders, has been kept out of any part of government in Belgium by a coalition of mainstream parties. But this so-called cordon sanitaire may crack if the grouping makes widely-anticipated gains on Sunday.

In a series of interviews yesterday Mr Dewinter raised the temperature in Antwerp, which has a large Jewish community living alongside thousands of Muslim immigrants.

"In the Jewish community we have about 30 to 35 per cent of the vote," said Mr Dewinter. "That's official because we know our score over there in the Jewish neighbourhood." Mr Dewinter denied any responsibility for inciting racial attacks and said that his opponents had found that "demonisation is necessary to maintain the cordon sanitaire against us".

The office of the 44-year-old former journalist boasts a Rubens portrait of a 17th-century mayor of Antwerp - a post which the Vlaams Belang leader covets. He spelled out clearly the tougher regime that immigrants, especially Muslim ones, would face were he to be elected.

Mr Dewinter said: "If they won't accept our way of life, if they won't accept those principles which are very clear and very necessary for Western democracy, I don't think we have to recognise Islam as an official religion in our country."

Six years ago the Vlaams Blok, which was the forerunner of the Vlaams Belang, won a third of the vote in Antwerp. The Blok was disbanded after a court ruled that it incited racial hatred. In regional elections two years ago the Vlaams Belang, which has most of the same personalities, polled 24 per cent.

About 40,000 people attended pop concerts in Antwerp over the weekend called to rally voters against racism and intolerance. But on the streets yesterday views were mixed about the Vlaams Belang agenda. Ludo Bons, an engineer, said: "There is some good and some bad. It's not just immigration. The French [speakers in Belgium] take money from the Flemish. Everybody thinks it is racist but not everyone who votes for Vlaams Belang is racist - some vote because of the French situation."

Iskender Zambur, whose parents came from Turkey, said: "The Vlaams Belang is racist and what they want is no solution. It's OK to live here but dangerous."