Belgium has accused Israel of conflating foreign policy with anti-Semitism amid a spat over an investigation into illegal ritual circumcision practised by three rabbis belonging to Antwerp's Orthodox Jewish community.
Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot wrote a lengthy social media post aimed at his Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar, setting out Belgium's pride in its Jewish communities, determination to keep them safe, and anger they were being used “as leverage in a dispute about international law”.
The argument erupted after the Belgian Foreign Ministry summoned the US Ambassador to the country, Bill White, over a post written in capital letters on X calling on Belgium to “drop the ridiculous and anti-Semitic prosecution of three Jewish religious figures (mohels) in Antwerp! They are doing what they have been trained to do for thousands of years”.
Mr White's attack appears to refer to a complaint filed in 2024 by a dissident rabbi in Antwerp to Belgian police. It alleged that six mohels – people who perform the Jewish rite of circumcision – were carrying out an unsafe method that is practised among the Haredi community, such as the one in Antwerp. In Belgium, all medical procedures must be performed by a doctor.
Mr White said after his summoning that “Belgium is not anti-Semitic” but refused to apologise for his initial comments.
Mr Saar weighed in by addressing Mr Prevot on X to point at a rise in anti-Semitism in Belgium. “I understand that the mirror Ambassador Bill White has held up to you is unpleasant, but one might want to take this opportunity to take a hard look in that mirror and acknowledge reality,” Mr Saar said.
He claimed that the "Mohel community" was being targeted, before singling out Belgium's recent decision to restrict consular services to Belgian citizens living in illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The decision is rooted in the International Court of Justice's July 2024 advisory opinion that called on states “not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by Israel’s illegal presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
'False narrative'
“Let us not be naive about what is really happening here,” Mr Prevot said. “Ever since Belgium chose to firmly condemn all violations of international law, some Israeli leaders have pursued a campaign of amalgamation, deliberately conflating our principled legal positions with anti-Semitism. That narrative is false.”
Belgium was among 84 countries that on Tuesday condemned Israel's decision to allow land registration in the West Bank for the first time since 1967. Opponents say the move paves the way for annexation of the occupied Palestinian territory.
Mr Prevot said: “Any suggestion that Belgium is anti-Semitic is false, offensive and unacceptable.” He added that "tens of thousands of ritual circumcisions are performed legally in Belgium every year, without any interference."
Belgium has implemented new measures, including a criminal code that will enter force this year and will make anti-Semitism an aggravating circumstance, Mr Prevot said.
He said that presenting an investigation into a complaint about a specific medical practice is “a distortion of the facts”.
He added: “It is part of a pattern. You have taken the real fears of real people and turned them into an argument against Belgium's foreign policy.”
Belgium is one of several European countries that has come under fire from the US administration and Israeli cabinet members for alleged anti-Semitism due to foreign policy decisions.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last year linked French President Emmanuel Macron's decision to recognise Palestine to a rise of anti-Semitism in France, triggering a strong rebuke from Paris.
Figures show that there was a sharp rise in anti-Semitic attack across many European countries after the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led incursions in Israeli territory. The attacks roughly quadrupled in both Belgium and France.
