The late Joseph Wybran—Holocaust survivor, president of the B’nai B’rith lodge in Brussels and president of the Coordinating Council of Jewish Organizations in Belgium (CCOJB) when he was brutally murdered on Oct. 3, 1989, in the parking lot of the Erasmus Hospital where he worked as a world-renowned hematologist—was the first person to be honored by the government of Israel, the Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization under new legislation that officially recognizes Diaspora Jews killed in anti-Semitic attacks outside Israel.

This category of victim had not previously been officially acknowledged by the Israeli government and the April 28 event took place just one day before Israel’s Memorial Day. Wybran is one of 250 victims who have been approved for recognition by a special committee under the new law.

Members of the committee include Chairman of the World Zionist Organization Yaakov Hagoel; Jewish Agency Secretary General Josh Schwartz; Diaspora Ministry Director General Avi Cohen Scali; and B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem Director Alan Schneider.

Wybran’s widow, Emmy, was the first representative of five victims murdered in Wales, France and Belgium to be presented with a certificate and letter by Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Anti-Semitism Amichai Chikli; Maj. Gen. (res.) Doron Almog, chairman of the Jewish Agency Executive; and Hagoel. Chikli has also sent a letter to Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever urging him to block the repatriation of Wybran’s convicted murderer and reopen the case. Read the full letter here.

All of the representatives immigrated to Israel following the deadly incidents.

“This is a historic event,” Chikli said, “After the terrorist attack of Oct. 7, 2023, and the ensuing wave of anti-Semitic violence around the world, it is clearer than ever that the attack was aimed at the entire Jewish people that is engaged in a struggle for legitimacy and the right to identify with the State of Israel.”

Almog said, “This recognition is a correction to the past situation in which victims of this category were not officially recognized. This recognition brings hearts together in Israel and the Jewish world and illustrates Israel’s responsibility for Jews around the world.” Almog—who has lost seven family members in terrorist attacks in Israel—added that “your presence illustrates that we are tied to their legacy—a determination, founded on great pain and sense of loss—to create an exemplary society. Our unity is more important than ever.”

Hagoel—who pushed the legislation through numerous hurdles—said that it strengthens the notion that Israel is the home of all the Jewish People.

Following the ceremony, Emmy Wybran; Schneider; Jacques Heller, former president of B’nai B’rith in Belgium and close friend of Dr. Wybran; and B’nai B’rith CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin, met with Belgian MP Sam van Rooy to discuss the release of Wybran’s convicted murderer, Abdelkader Belliraj, on March 30, by King Mohammed VI of Morocco. Belliraj, a dual Belgian/Moroccan citizen who was convicted of having  led a team of terrorists affiliated with the Abu Nidal terrorist group, had served 17 years of a life sentence (later commuted to 25 years) on charges related to a plot to overthrow the monarchy, collusion with Al-Qaeda and six murders in Belgium, including Wybran and the Grand Mufti of Brussels. Van Rooy pledged to support B’nai B’rith’s appeal to the prime minister of Belgium that Belliraj be prevented from returning to Belgium and to expel him if he has already entered the country.