The three main arteries, close to the central station, which make it up are closed to traffic, for security reasons: in this diamond district, in Antwerp, in Belgium, the elders have not forgotten the 1981 attack , when a car containing 100 kg of pentrite exploded in front of the synagogue on rue Hovenier, killing three people and injuring dozens.
Today, everything is calm, and the windows sparkle. A few tourists wander around, perhaps looking for a good deal. “The doorman at our hotel warned us: we should only trust shops that display the Antwerp’s Most Brilliant label”explains the British Deborah Jones, a little surprised by the very discreet side of some of them.
In this “shtetl”, the “the last true Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Europe”, says a baker who says he sells the best challah (traditional Shabbat bread) in the city, you have to be either well-known or careful if you want to talk about diamonds. Some 350 cutting and refining workshops and 1,500 companies which, despite competition from Dubai (United Arab Emirates) and Bombay (India), trade in rough and polished diamonds. Currently, more than 80% of the world’s rough diamonds, 50% of polished stones and 40% of industrial diamonds still pass through the Belgian city.
“No politics”
We choose the “caution” option to approach two sixty-year-olds, hair in curls, hats and long black coats. They are ready to tell a story from eight hundred years ago, when the first Jews settled here, but when questioned further, the answers are terse.
How is the business doing? ” So so… ” And these decisions by the European Union (EU) and the G7, which will ban (non-industrial) diamonds mined or processed in Russia: good or bad news, for the place where, in 2022, 21% of diamonds still came from Russia? The two men greet each other and turn on their heels: “Sorry sir, we’re not talking about politics…”
To find out more, there is no need to rely on the High Diamond Council, the official representative, created in 1973 at the initiative of the industry and the government, or on the Antwerp World Diamond Centre, a private foundation which defends the interests of the sector: requested by The worldthey did not respond to requests for information.
Former diamond dealer and now consultant, David Horowitz is more talkative. “What has been announced will be almost impossible to implement, he judges. We have not succeeded in banning Russian oil, why would we succeed with diamonds? »
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