The Israeli embassy in Belgium has expressed its “shock and dismay” at a university for using a hooked nose mime to depict the word "Jew" in an attempt to create new sign language.

The University of Ghent had released a series of videos online as part of its project to expand Flemish sign language with new words.

One video shows someone signing the word Jew with a hooked nose, while another refers to side-locks.

Two show an imaginary beard being stroked.

In a tweet, the Israeli embassy called it an “ugly initiative” and said its “sole purpose is the promotion of #AntiSemitic stereotypes.”

The Embassy of #Israel expresses its shock and dismay following the ugly initiative of creating a new sign in Flemish sign language for "Jew": a hooked nose. Its sole purpose is the promotion of #AntiSemitic stereotypes.https://t.co/tldEc2CEuX

— Israel in Belgium (@IsraelinBelgium) September 17, 2019

Menachem Margolin, director of the European Jewish Association protested that the “second [video] involving side-locks are borderline acceptable if misleading,” and that “the last two are simply racist and demeaning to Jews, using a gesticulation of a large and hooked nose to define Jew.”

In a letter to the university, Mr Margolin asked them to remove the gestures from their sign language dictionary, saying: “If the aim of this project was to embellish or add to the standard definition, it has certainly managed to so, in the most stereotypical and racist way imaginable, by focusing on side-locks and worse still gesticulating a hooked nose to describe a jew.”

The Flemish Sign Language Center defended the university, claiming the dictionary was intended to be “descriptive” rather than “normative”.

“It may be viewed as derogatory in 2019, but these gestures... were not intended to offend,” they said in a statement.