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AMSTERDAM (JTA) \u2014 Carice van Houten, a Dutch actress known for her role in the hit series \u201cGame of Thrones,\u201d canceled a television appearance in Belgium over the use of caricatures of Jews at a parade there.<\/p>\n
Van Houten, who portrayed Melisandre in the series, and her associate, Halina Reijn, who is married to a Jewish soccer player, both pulled out of the panel of the talk show \u201cThe Appointment\u201d after learning it would host Christoph D\u2019Haese, the mayor of Aalst, who has insisted on the legitimacy of caricaturing Jews at his city\u2019s iconic annual carnival.<\/p>\n
In March, the carnival featured a float with effigies of grinning Jews holding money, one carrying a rat on its shoulder. The float received widespread condemnation, including by Belgium\u2019s UNIA watchdog on racism, which called it anti-Semitic.<\/p>\n
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, condemned the display as \u201cracist and anti-Semitic\u201d and scheduled a vote on whether to remove Aalst from its list of culturally significant events. On Sunday, D\u2019Haese said Aalst would leave UNESCO and insisted again that the display falls within legitimate expression of satire in the context of the carnival\u2019s promotion of edgy humor.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo Halina Reijn and Carice Van Houten as advertised,\u201d Phara de Aguirre, the Belgian show\u2019s presenter, wrote Monday on Twitter. \u201cReijn is married to a Jewish man and doesn\u2019t want to share a table with Aalst\u2019s mayor.\u201d<\/p>\n
De Aguirre quoted Reijn as having called the mayor \u201can anti-Semite\u201d and said Van Houten canceled out of solidarity.<\/p>\n