Belgium will join the group of countries that will recognize the state of Palestine at this month’s U.N. General Assembly and will impose sanctions on Israel over the war in Gaza, Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot announced overnight.
The recognition of Palestine would only be formalized if Hamas releases all remaining Israeli hostages kidnapped in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack and the militant group “no longer has any role in managing Palestine,” Prévot said.
In the meantime, Belgium will also impose “firm sanctions” on the Israeli government, Prévot said. The measures include a ban on importing products from illegal settlements, a review of public procurement policies with Israeli companies and restrictions on consular assistance to Belgians living in illegal settlements.
Prévot said two “extremist” Israeli ministers, several “violent settlers” and Hamas leaders would be designated “persona non grata” in Belgium. While he didn’t name the ministers, they are likely to be Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, who have been sanctioned by other countries including the U.K. over accusations they incite violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
“This is not about sanctioning the Israeli people but about ensuring that their government respects international and humanitarian law and taking action to try to change the situation on the ground,” Prévot said.
In July, French President Emmanuel Macron said France would recognize a Palestinian state at the U.N. meeting, due to be held from Sept. 9 to 23 in New York, and more than a dozen other Western countries have since said they would do the same. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously said the move feeds antisemitism, “rewards Hamas’s monstrous terrorism & punishes its victims.”
In his post in the early hours of Tuesday, Prévot said Belgium would make a “firm commitment to calling for European measures targeting Hamas and supporting new Belgian initiatives to combat antisemitism, further mobilizing all our security services and involving representatives of Jewish communities.”
Prévot also voiced support for the EU to suspend its association agreement with Israel. The European Commission has proposed suspending parts of the agreement dealing with research and development after concluding Israel had breached its human rights obligations under the deal, but the proposal has so far been blocked because Germany, among others, wasn’t willing to support penalizing Israel in this way.
Prévot and his centrist Les Engagés party last month threatened to block government business if their Flemish nationalist and liberal coalition partners obstructed their plans to take a tougher stance against Israel. The Belgian government has since had multiple crisis meetings seeking to resolve the impasse.
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