Hind Rajab Foundation says it filed criminal complaint against Chikli that forced him to cancel Belgium trip

The Hind Rajab Foundation says that its president recently filed a criminal complaint against Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli for allegedly “making terrorist threats against him.”

Chikli was forced to cancel a visit to the European Parliament in Brussels this week, reportedly over concerns that pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel groups would seek a warrant for his arrest after Belgium officials said that he would not have diplomatic immunity due to the unofficial nature of the visit.

The foundation, which is named for a 6-year-old Gazan girl killed in January 2024, has sparked alarm in Israel recently by seeking the arrest of Israeli officials and soldiers traveling abroad over alleged war crimes.

The foundation says in a statement that its founder, Dyab Abou Jahjah, filed a criminal complaint accusing Chikli of “making terrorist threats against him, a Belgian national, with the intent to intimidate and suppress the foundation’s advocacy for justice and accountability for war crimes.”

The complaint cites a comment made by Chikli on X on January 6, in which he told Abou Jahjah to “watch your pager,” in reference to the Hezbollah pagers detonated by Israel in a September operation.

“By evoking this event, Mr. Chikli threats Mr. Abou Jahjah with death or at least with the intentional infliction of blows and injuries resulting in mutilation,” the foundation says, charging that Chikli’s comment “constitutes an act of terrorism under Belgian law.”

The foundation claims that the reason Chikli wouldn’t have had diplomatic immunity while in Belgium was not because his visit was unofficial, but rather due to “Belgium’s commitment to upholding its international obligations to address crimes effectively.”