Belgium to recognize Palestinian state at UN General Assembly, impose sanctions on Israel

Belgium will recognize the State of Palestine at the United Nations General Assembly later this month, Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot announced Tuesday, adding that sanctions will be imposed on the Israeli government.

“Palestine will be recognized by Belgium at the UN session! And firm sanctions are being imposed against the Israeli government,” Prevot wrote on X.

There was no comment from Israel regarding the announcement.

The Belgian foreign minister said that the move would send a “strong political and diplomatic signal” to preserve the chances of a two-state solution, and “mark the condemnation of Israel’s expansionist ambitions, with its colonization programs and military occupations.”

Prevot said that Belgium noted “the trauma that the Israeli people have suffered from the terrorist attacks by Hamas on October 7, 2023,” and that therefore “administrative formalization” of the recognition of Palestine will only be declared by royal decree “when the last hostage has been released and Hamas no longer exercises any form of governance over Palestine.”

A Belgian official explained to The Times of Israel that at the UN, Belgium will announce “its political commitment to recognise Palestine, in view of a two-state solution. Belgium also calls in parallel all Arab countries to recognise Israel.”

Belgium will not take formal measures, like opening an embassy, until Hamas is disarmed and excluded from any governing role, said the official.

The announcement averted a political crisis in Belgium that had divided the governing coalition.

In July, French President Emmanuel Macron said France would recognize a Palestinian state at the UN meeting, due to be held from September 9 to 23 in New York.

More than a dozen other Western countries have since said they would do the same. Israeli ministers have lambasted the move as a “reward for terror” in the wake of the October 7 onslaught.

The United States said last week it will not allow Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to travel to New York for the UNGA.

Prevot said the decision to recognize a Palestinian state came “in view of the humanitarian tragedy” unfolding in Gaza amid the war, with pressure needed on both Israel and Hamas.

“In the face of the violence perpetrated by Israel in violation of international law, given its international obligations, including the duty to prevent any risk of genocide, Belgium had to take strong decisions to increase pressure on the Israeli government and Hamas terrorists,” he wrote.

“This is not about punishing the Israeli people, but rather about ensuring that its government respects international and humanitarian law and taking action to try to change the situation on the ground,” he added.

Prevot said additionally said that “any antisemitism or glorification of terrorism by Hamas supporters will also be condemned more vigorously.”

Prevot said that 12 steps would be taken regarding sanctions on Israel and detailed a number of them: a ban on the import of products originating from settlements; a review of public procurement policies with Israeli companies; limitation of consular assistance to Belgians living in settlements deemed illegal under international law; possible judicial prosecutions; and bans on overflights and transit.

Belgium later clarified that the transit of dual-use goods for the IDF, and “all military goods intended for use by Israel, not just those intended for the Israeli army.”

The ban on overflights refers to “requests from the Israeli authorities for military flights to overfly our airspace” as long as the war continues, according to Brussels.

Additionally, Prevot said “two extremist Israeli ministers, various violent settlers and Hamas leaders” would be “persona non gratae” in Belgium. A subsequent statement named far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir as the officials in question.

“This list may be expanded at a later date if it receives sufficient support at European level,” said Belgium’s Foreign Ministry. “The persons referred to… will be entered into the Schengen Information System (SIS) by the Immigration Office, with a note that they are no longer welcome on Belgian territory due to a threat to public order, national security or serious violations of international law.”

In addition, Belgium will support moves within the EU to suspend cooperation with Israel, including the suspension of the association agreement, research programs and technical cooperation. European Union foreign ministers remained sharply divided during a meeting in Copenhagen on Saturday over the war in Gaza, with some urging the bloc to exert significant economic pressure on Israel, while others firmly opposed such measures.

Prevot also wrote that Belgium will join the “New York Declaration,” which sets out a phased plan to end the nearly eight-decade conflict and the ongoing war in Gaza. The plan would culminate in an independent, demilitarized Palestine living side by side peacefully with Israel, and their eventual integration into the wider Middle East region.

In July, Arab and Muslim countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan and Turkey, signed the declaration in which they also condemned for the first time Hamas’s onslaught of October 7, 2023, and called on the terror group to release all the hostages it is holding, disarm and end its rule of Gaza, in a bid to end the devastating war in the Strip. Seventeen countries, plus the 22-member Arab League and the entire European Union, threw their weight behind the text, agreed on at a United Nations conference on reviving the two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians.

Israel has been under mounting pressure to wrap up its campaign in Gaza, where the war has created a humanitarian crisis and devastated much of the territory.