A leading Belgian university honored British film director Ken Loach with a special doctorate on Thursday despite veiled criticism from Prime Minister Charles Michel and outspoken rebukes from Jewish organizations about anti-Semitism allegations.
Loach, the 81-year-old director of 2016 Palme d'Or winner "I, Daniel Blake," was awarded the honorary doctorate by the Université Libre de Bruxelles.
"Depicting me as anti-Semitic simply because I am adding my voice to those who denounce the plight of the Palestinians is grotesque," Loach said in a statement.
He accused Michel of ignoring "flagrant breaches of international law" by Israel.
After receiving the award, Loach said he was shocked that the prime minister had chosen to criticize the institution for giving him the award.
"Now, he's a lawyer, Mr. Michel. … Did he, I wonder, ask about the breaches of international law committed by Israel? Did he ask about the illegal occupation of Palestinian lands?" Loach said.
Speaking in the Great Synagogue of Europe (formerly, the Brussels Grand Synagogue) on Wednesday night, Michel, a former student at ULB, said, "Anti-Semitism cannot be tolerated, whatever its form. That also goes for my alma mater."
He did not explicitly name Loach as the target of his criticism, but his university honor had been prominent in the Belgian media for days.
The president of the European Jewish Congress, Moshe Kantor, was more emphatic, saying that the honorary doctorate for Loach "can only be seen as an endorsement of someone who has played fast and loose with the historical record to the point of trivializing the Holocaust."
He called on the university to revoke the award, saying Loach "constantly undermined efforts to combat anti-Semitism in the U.K."
Loach has strongly denied he ever questioned or trivialized the Holocaust. A committed leftist, Loach said Thursday, "I know very well the history of Holocaust denial. It is the province of the far Right, and I have nothing to do with that. I have nothing but contempt for that."
The university said it had checked the allegations against Loach and found no objections strong enough to deny him the doctorate.
It said it wanted to laud the director, who has twice won the prestigious Palme d'Or award at the Cannes Film Festival, for his "militant" movies about social conflicts and the fight of workers and immigrants to improve their lot.
Loach urged Michel to retract his comments.
"Mr. Michel: Look at the evidence and then withdraw your words," Loach said.
Loach has also been involved in the British Labour Party's scandals involving anti-Semitism and has been accused of trying to downplay its prevalence in the party.
