Bloed, Bodem, Eer en Trouw (BBET; "Blood, Soil, Honour and Loyalty") was aFlemishneo-Nazi group, created in 2004 from a splinter of the Flemish branch of the internationalNazi skinhead organizationBlood & Honour.
The group rose to public prominence in September 2006, after 17 members, including 11 soldiers, were arrested under the December 2003anti-terrorist laws and laws againstracism,antisemitism andnegationism. According to the prosecutor, the suspects were preparing terrorist attacks in order to "destabilize"Belgium.[1][2]
150 police officers searched five military barracks inLeopoldsburg andPeer, in theLimburg province near the Dutch border, in theBrussels Royal Military School and inZedelgem. Police also searched 18 private residences inFlanders. They found military weapons, ammunition, explosives, and a homemade bomb large enough to "blow up a car". Led by Thomas Boutens, the group trained itself in military foundations. It also trained ininterrogation and counter-interrogation techniques, as well as in becomingclandestine.[3]
The group was engaged inarms dealing, and one of the suspects worked in the Kleine Brogel military base whereUnited Statesnuclear weapons are stocked. Thomas Boutens was developing international links, in particular with the Dutchfar right movementNational Alliance (NA).[4][5][6][7][8][9][10] Several NA members, including party secretaryVirginia Kapić, attended a BBET training camp.[11] This led to her position in the party becoming untenable and she soon resigned from her post.
Flemish TV channelVTM claimed (citing justice sources) that the group was preparing to assassinateFilip Dewinter, an important figure of the far rightVlaams Belang party, in afalse flag attack that would have been blamed on theIslamist movement. Taking advantage of the ensuing confusion, the group would then murderDyab Abou Jahjah, leader of theArab European League. Belgian justice authorise denied these claims.[12]
The Belgian press recalled the "bloody eighties," during which theBrabant massacres were carried out (28 deaths), and theMarxist organizationCommunist Combatant Cells carried out terrorist attacks (2 deaths).[13]Far right groups such asWestland New Post were suspected of being responsible for the Brabant massacres, although the parliamentary commission could not find any definitive proof. JournalistManuel Abramowicz, a specialist of the far-right and founder of the progressiveResistanceS website and network, was quoted inLe Soir saying that radical right-wingultras have always had an aim to "infiltrate the state mechanisms" — including the army in the 1970s and the 1980s, through Westland New Post and theFront de la Jeunesse.[14]
