Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever on Wednesday, May April 30th, pushed back against a journalist’s leading question about Israel committing ‘genocide’ in Gaza.
During an interview with Flemish public broadcaster VRT, the journalist commented that he has information that the “majority [in parliament] is working on a resolution to sharpen the tone against the genocide that’s happening there by Israel.”
De Wever quickly retorted, describing the line of questioning “extremely dubious.”
You’re already operating under the assumption of genocide—that is something for the International Court of Justice to determine,
he added.
The Belgian PM then cautioned against the premature recognition of Palestinian statehood, noting that it is unclear what territory, and what authority Belgium would be recognizing, also highlighting that it is unclear whether a new Palestinian entity would be “committed to recognizing Israel, to the demilitarization of Hamas and to providing security guarantees, with broader implications for the Arab world.”
De Wever is the leader of the conservative New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), which took office in February after his party won Belgium’s 2024 general election. Under the previous administration, Belgium was among the few Western countries to announce support for South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. It also pledged to honor an International Criminal Court arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
De Wever has since reversed course on that issues as well, declaring last month that Belgium would not enforce such a warrant.
