Belgium, That Country Leading the Europeans To Hate Israel

 Nadene Goldfoot                                       

It has been known for a long time now that Belgium has had a section of it taken over by the Palestinians.  In fact, police were afraid to go into there.  Now, here's what they have done to Israelis:

• on 16 October 2023, 2 people were killed and one seriously injured in a terrorism-related shooting incident in Brussels
• in 2022, a police officer was killed and another injured in a suspected terrorist incident in Brussels

The Belgian authorities have successfully disrupted various attack plans, making a number of arrests in recent years. The Belgian government has set the national threat level at 3 ‘Serious’. You can expect to see an increased police presence, and additional safety measures may be in place. Be aware of your surroundings and follow the advice of local authorities. 

Belgium's population is around 11.8 million, but specific, exact figures for Palestinians within Belgium aren't readily available as they're often counted within broader ethnic/nationality groups or as asylum seekers; recent data (2024) shows thousands of Palestinians seeking asylum there, making them a significant recent influx, notes the Brussels Times and Belgian News Agency. Total population figures vary slightly by source but hover around 11.7-11.9 million as of 2024/2025, according to World Population Review, the EU, and Statbel.

Since the relaxation of the Belgian nationality law, more than 1.3 million migrants have acquired Belgian citizenship and are now considered new Belgians. 89.2% of inhabitants of Turkish origin have been naturalized, as have 88.4% of people of Moroccan background, 75.4% of Italians, 56.2% of the French and 47.8% of Dutch people.^[28]

In 2007, there were 1.38 million foreign-born residents in Belgium, corresponding to 12.9% of the total population. Of these, 685 000 (6.4%) were born outside the EU and 695 000 (6.5%) were born in another EU Member State. 

"The Belgian city of Verviers has become the latest city in Europe to cut its “ties with the Israeli apartheid regime” to “strengthen its support for the Palestinian people.”

Liege to the east on the Sambre River.  Brusssels and Antwerp more to the north.  

Verviers follows the Belgian city of Liége, whose city council last month decided to end ties with Israel, citing its regime of “apartheid, colonization and military occupation.” Also, in April, Oslo (Norway) decided to exclude companies that directly or indirectly contribute to Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise, and in February, the mayor of Barcelona (Catalonia, Spanish state) decided to suspend institutional ties with apartheid Israel. Elsewhere, the mayor of Belém (Brazil) has recently declared the city an Apartheid Free Zone.

Belgium and Israeli towns are linked through diplomatic relations, recent Belgian government actions (like moving to recognize a Palestinian state and imposing sanctions on settlement goods), and protests in Belgian cities (such as Brussels, Antwerp, Liège, Verviers) calling for an end to Israeli actions in Gaza and support for Palestinians, with tensions rising over settlement expansion and alleged human rights violations in the West Bank. Belgian towns like Verviers and Liège have cut ties with Israel, while national policy includes banning imports from settlements. 

Key Developments & Actions

• Recognition of Palestinian Statehood: Belgium's Foreign Minister announced plans for Belgium to recognize a Palestinian state at the UN, contingent on Hamas's removal and hostage release, a move welcomed by Palestinians but drawing Israeli criticism. (It would appear to be a reward for October 7, 2023 and other terrorist activities; not obeying the agreement of giving up arms.  
• Sanctions & Boycotts: Belgium plans sanctions, including banning imports from illegal Israeli settlements, following actions by cities like Verviers and Liège to sever ties with Israel.
• Protests: Large demonstrations in Brussels, involving tens of thousands, demand an end to the conflict in Gaza (they should be accusing Hamas, not Israel who is being attacked by Hamas,  and stronger action against Israel, with protesters feeling the government's recognition is insufficient.
• Settlement Concerns: Belgium's government condemned settler violence in the West Bank same thing; attacks first from Hamas and Hezbollah, and the expansion of settlements, viewing them as illegal and detrimental to a two-state solution. 
  
  
    Area C is officially for Israel and Hamas/Palestinian people have beenencroaching on it while they have Area A and half of B which is to be shared.  Area C is the far right strip of land.  

Specific Towns & Cities

• Brussels: A center for large pro-Palestinian protests and policy discussions.
• Antwerp: A location where peace flags were displayed in support of Palestine, according to news reports.
• Verviers & Liège: Cities that have cut institutional ties with Israel, citing apartheid and occupation. 

Broader Context
These actions reflect a growing international pressure on Israel, with Belgium joining other European cities and nations in taking stronger stances against Israeli policies in Palestinian territories, focusing on humanitarian crises and violations of international law.

              They must have introduced us to the Belgium Waffles
 

Belgium's history spans from Celtic tribes and Roman rule to becoming an independent nation in 1830, shaped by powerful neighbors, industrialization, and internal tensions between Dutch and French speakers, eventually becoming a founding member of the European Union and NATO despite invasions in World Wars I and II.

It’s hard to believe that such a small country can have three separate language zones (French, Dutch and German) and now you can add Arabic to the list. Most Arab and North African communities in Brussels are concentrated in specific municipalities, notably Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, Schaerbeek, Anderlecht, and Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, which have large populations of Moroccan and Turkish descent, with Molenbeek often cited due to its high concentration and prominent Muslim community.

Resource:

https://bdsmovement.net/Verviers-Cuts-Ties-With-Apartheid-Israel#:~:text=The%20Belgian%20city%20of%20Verviers,the%20Palestinian%20struggle%20to%20%23DismantleApartheid!

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/belgium/safety-and-security#:~:text=on%2016%20October%202023%2C%202,country%20and%20affect%20international%20travel.

Eritreans protesting in Tel Aviv, People in Israel For Years

 Nadene Goldfoot                                         

    Eritreans from Africa today, rioting 

Eritreans made the news again.  They are still in Israel since the 2000s  but presently rioting in Tel Aviv.  “Eritrea is a military dictatorship. It’s awful there. 

Now the embassy wants to make an event that says all is fine in Eritrea,”   Witnesses of the riots said hundreds of people wearing blue shirts clashed with participants and organizers — many of them in red and yellow shirts — of a cultural event that was organized by the Eritrean embassy in Israel and was, according to the blue-clad group, supportive of the regime of President Isaias Afwerki. 

  The fight is not viewed by one as an ideological clash about what happens in Eritrea, but rather a dispute between Eritreans living in Israel on developments that could undermine their semi-official refugee status here. “If they say it’s so good in Eritrea, then everybody in Israel will ask: ‘Well, why aren’t the Eritreans going back then?’                             

  July  2023:  Happy Festival in Giessen, Eritrea and my, they do look happy, don't they?  They had decided to be counter demonstrators. They're not happy with repressive Eritrea. As Eritrea has never had a functioning constitution, no elections, no legislature and no published budget, Isaias has been the sole power in the country, controlling its judiciary and military. Hence, scholars and historians have long considered him to be a dictator, described his regime as totalitarian, by way of forced conscription; the United Nations and Amnesty International cited him for human rights violations. In 2022, Reporters Without Borders ranked Eritrea, under the government of Afewerki, second-to-last out of 180 countries in its Press Freedom Index, only scoring higher than North Korea

Isaias Afwerki (Tigrinya: ኢሳይያስ ኣፍወርቂ, pronounced [isajas afwɐrkʼi]; born 2 February 1946) is an Eritrean politician and partisan who has been the president of Eritrea since shortly after he led the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) to victory in 24 May 1991, ending the 30-year-old war for independence from .Ethiopia..Eritrea today is referred to as the North Korea of Africa.  

Here's the big problem:  "We don’t want to go back and we don’t want the Israelis to think it’s okay to send us back,” an Eritrean said.

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett already in 2018 connected support for the regime in Eritrea with the legitimacy of the asylum-seeker status of Eritreans.

I wrote about them back on September 18, 2013, "They knew Israel was a country of freedom and democracy and snuck into the country starting in the middle 2000's.  They came as undocumented workers and entered illegally through the fenced border between Israel and Egypt.  26,635 came in 2010.  By 2012 the number was 55,000. For 30 years the Eritreans had fought for their independence from Ethiopia from 1961 to 1991. There had been war between Eritrea and Ethiopia from May 1998 to June 2000.  Over 150,000 Eritreans had been killed.  69% of Eritreans are Sunni Muslims.                          

Young Eritrean woman with black wavy hair, bright red flower

Eritrea, a country on the Red Sea with ancient connections to Egypt, has  about a 6 million population.  They belong to the African Union, UN, IGAD and have observer status in the Arab League.  A neighbor state is Sudan which has 43,939,598 people of which 70% are Sunni Muslims."

Ahmed Ela, Ethiopia - February 10, 2011: A mid-aged western tourist is showing images of his camera display to a group of local children. The children  belong to the Afar people (sometimes also called "Danakil"). They are living in the Danakil Depression in the border-triangle between Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti. This is one of the most remote and most extreme regions of the world - it is the lowest point in Africa (- 155 metres/-550 ft below sea level) and one of the hottest places on Earth. Until today the majority of the Afar are still nomadic pastoralists and making their life with raising camels, goats and cattle in the desert.

To Israel, they are not "refugees" like their Jewish refugees, with certain rights to live there,  They were asylum seekers under a different status, treated humanely, given a chance to live, something they once asked of all the nations in the world and didn't get, like when World War II progressed enough to show that all Jews were to be exterminated. The world had a sundry of excuses why their ships couldn't enter their ports, the USA included.      

   Eritrean refugees as they first entered Israel.  

So Israel, drowning in their own problems being shot at from Gaza daily, from Lebanon and Syrian terrorists, allowed the Eritreans entrance, but here they still are after a good 23 years.  Their living in Israel is regulated under a government policy of temporary protection – and the State of Israel recognizes the danger to their lives if they return to their countries of origin.                                    

                     Now, a paramedic Eritrean lady, 

Eritrea is a country in East Africa.  It is bordered by Ethiopia in the south, Sudan in the west, and Djibouti in the southeast. The northeastern and eastern parts of Eritrea have an extensive coastline along the Red Sea. The nation has a total area of approximately 117,600 km² (45,406 sq mi), and includes the Dahlak Archipelago and several of the Hanish Islands.  Israel has a total area of about  22,145 sq.km (8,630 sq. miles) according to early days in the 1950s but now (includes more so has about 10,000 sq. miles), of which 21,671 sq. km is land area. Israel is some 420 km in length and about 115 km across at the widest point.

   Eritrean protesters clash with Israeli riot police in Tel Aviv, September 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Following a referendum in Eritrea supervised by the United Nations (dubbed UNOVER) in which the Eritrean people overwhelmingly voted for independence, Eritrea declared its independence and gained international recognition in 1993. The EPLF seized power, established a one-party state along nationalist lines and banned further political activity.  On 28 May 1993, Eritrea was admitted into the United Nations as the 182nd member state.  As of 2020, there have been no elections.  

The current population of Eritrea is 3,760,660 as of Saturday, September 2, 2023, based on Worldometer elaboration of the latest United Nations data .  It is estimated that there are about 18,000 asylum seekers from Eritrea in Israel, most of whom arrived illegally years ago by crossing Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. They say they fled danger, persecution and compulsory military conscription in one of the world's most repressive countries.  

According to data from the Population and Immigration Authority, there are currently about 25,500 asylum seekers living in Israel, mainly from Eritrea and Sudan (about 20,000 from Eritrea and about 4,000 from Sudan). In addition, according to estimates, about 8,000 children of asylum seekers are growing up in Israel, the majority of whom were born in Israel.  Sudan's country has 43,939,598 population in 2011 and had 70% of the population are  Muslims, most likely the same for Eritrea.   

Israel had rescued Jewish Ethiopians who were being attacked and killed by Ethiopians for being Jewish, and now the tables are turned.  The Eritreans  themselves, neighbors of Ethiopia, are coming to Israel and not to Saudi Arabia, I notice.  This long-standing government policy regarding asylum seekers has left them in a state of limbo – on the one hand Israel recognizes that it cannot deport asylum seekers, but at the same time it deprives them of services such as social security benefits, health insurance and other social services, thereby denying them their human rights. 

 But logic and power and change plays into this situation.  If they do this for Eritreans, then they would have to do this for Palestinians and others, and we would NOT be Israel anymore.  Israel was created for one reason, to be the go-to country for Jews who needed asylum.  Since the world was not a safe country for Jews, and they had once had their own country, they returned because now they found an open door by waiting for 30 years.  It was NOT created as all asylum seekers' paradise.  Looks like they should create their own out of their own country.  

Resource:

https://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2013/09/illegal-africans-streaming-into-israel.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaias_Afwerki#:~:text=Isaias%20Afwerki%20(Tigrinya%3A%20%E1%8A%A2%E1%88%B3%E1%8B%AD%E1%8B%AB%E1%88%B5%20%E1%8A%A3%E1%8D%8D%E1%8B%88%E1%88%AD%E1%89%82,old%20war%20for%20independence%20from

https://assaf.org.il/en/refugees-in-israel/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eritrea

https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-tel-avivs-tense-south-business-owners-guard-stores-damaged-in-eritrean-riots/