Belgium: Israel's ambassador turns table on Brussels' Gaza reprimand

Via Ynet News:

After being lashed by Belgium and Luxembourg over Israeli policies and its 'disproportionate' use of force during latest wave of unrest, Ambassador Simona Frenkel refuses ‘to listen with a bowed head', tells top diplomats, 'your one-sided positions don’t contribute to peace.'

Israel's Ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg Simona Frenkel chastised representatives of the two countries’ foreign ministries Wednesday after being summoned to be reprimanded herself following Monday's deadly clashes between the IDF and some 40,000 Gazan protestors. “It seems that the Belgian Foreign Ministry belongs to a school of thought according to which when an ambassador is summoned for a conversation or a reprimand, he is supposed to behave like a child who has misbehaved, to listen with a bowed head and not to respond,” Frenkel wrote in a report sent to the Foreign Ministry.

“I responded and fired back against Belgium: Your one-sided positions do not contribute to peace.” Frenkel was first invited to a meeting with Deputy Director-General of the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Anick Van Calster, who recently visited Israel.

Van Calster opened by saying that she had been instructed by Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders to invite Frenkel in order to clarify the Belgian position, to voice objections to events that occurred on Monday on the Gaza border and to protest against what was described as a “disproportionate” use of force.

Calster also expressed anger over statements made by Frenkel during an interview with the country’s RTBF radio station, in which she described those killed in Gaza during the wave of unrest as terrorists. “Regarding the independent investigation committee: There has never been an investigation committee that was independent when it comes to our affairs. All of them were political, where there is an automatic majority of people against Israel,” she replied. (...)

“Moreover, Belgium is the last to claim an independent investigation committee since its Prime Minister Charles Michel has determined even before the committee has been established that Israel had to be punished, You have already predetermined the outcome,” Frenkel argued.

She also defended her comments on the radio, drawing Van Calster’s attention to the fact that doubts had already been cast on whether a Gazan baby had in fact been killed by Israeli forces during the protests.

“You raised an outcry because I described them all as terrorists, but this morning we now know that regarding the 8 month old baby who was killed and allegedly hit by the IDF, even the journalists in Gaza are moderating their positions and are saying that she may have already been dying beforehand and was deliberately brought to the fence,” Frenkel noted, before offering what she described as “proof” that the Hamas terror group was responsible for the violent protests. 

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EU: In the W. Bank, the EU creates its own facts on the ground

Via Mosaic Magazine:

The European Union has begun building settlements for Palestinians and Bedouin in a small strip of the West Bank known as the “E1 corridor.” As the Oslo Accords place this territory under direct Israeli control, these building projects—conducted under the shelter of diplomatic immunity and without proper permits—violate both Israeli and international law. Israel has finally moved to dismantle some of these structures, and now the EU is demanding compensation. David M. Weinberg comments:

[I]llegally established Palestinian villages and Bedouin shantytowns have slowly closed the corridor between Jerusalem and [nearby] Maaleh Adumim, where a major highway runs, crawling to within several meters from it. These illegal outposts steal electricity from the highway lights and water from Israeli pipelines. 

Civil Administration data, presented last year to the Knesset’s subcommittee on Judea and Samaria, showed that 6,500 Palestinians were living in some 1,220 illegally built homes in the area, and the number undoubtedly has grown since then—thanks to the EU, [which] has poured perhaps €100 million into EU-emblazoned prefabs, EU-signed roads, and water and energy installations. [And not only] in E1, [but also] in Gush Etzion, in the South Hebron Hills, and even in the Negev. . . . 

In short, the EU’s support of the Palestinians has graduated from passive diplomatic and financial assistance to subversive participation in the Palestinian Authority’s illegal construction ventures. The explicit EU intent is to erode Israeli control of [this portion of the West Bank] and east Jerusalem while promoting Palestinian territorial continuity leading to runaway Palestinian statehood. . . . 

Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain, and Sweden—members of the so-called “West Bank Protection Consortium,” a body that coordinates “humanitarian assistance” to Bedouin and Palestinian squatters in [the area]—are now demanding that Israel pay them compensation of more than €30,000 each. . . . First the EU builds illegal settlements in defiance of Israel, then it demands that Israel pay for these offenses when Israel acts against them.

 Read more at Israel Hayom

Luxembourg: Largest supermarket chain pulls Israeli produce

Ynet News reports:

Luxembourg's largest supermarket chain, Cactus, had decided to halt the sale of produce until its supplier finds proof that its origin is not the West Bank.


The chain's management caved in to pressure by the pro-Palestinian organization Comité pour une Paix Juste au Proche-Orient, which held noisy demonstrations at the chain's stores, claiming that they sold products from settlements.

A Cactus supermarket (Photo: Cactus website)

The protests continued for months, until managers acquiesced and wrote to the group that it was suspending the sale of Israeli produce. The chain's management said income from Israeli produce is minimal and is not worth the annoyance to customers caused by protests.

However, the chain announced that it would continue to slel other Israeli products like SodaStream devices and equipment, which provide more significant profits.  Read more.

Belgium: BDS movements pressure company to boycott Israel

Belgian company Jan De Nul Group is currently bidding to build port facilities in Haifa and Ashdod.

Anti-Israel groups from Belgium and Luxembourg joined in with human rights groups in Kuwait and Morocco (known for their pristine human rights record) to pressure the company to boycott the port project.

The groups include: Algemene Centrale van het ABVV, Intal, Vredesactie, Palestina Solidariteit, Nordine Saïdi pour le Mouvement Citoyen Palestine, Le Comité Verviers Palestine, Association Belgo-Palestinienne, G3W – Geneeskunde voor de Derde Wereld , Plate-forme Charleroi-Palestine and Comité pour une Paix Juste au Proche Orient.

Though BDS movements claim they only boycott settlements, their letter clearly explains why settlements are only part of the problem.  Israel manufactures weapons, and therefore Israel is a target too.

The ports you are considering constructing are likely to become a key conduit for deadly weapons used to violate human rights in Palestine/Israel and across the world. 

By constructing and operating ports that facilitate the movement of produce from illegal Israeli settlements and weaponry used in Israeli massacres, the Jan De Nul Group would be be making a political decision to become deeply complicit with Israel’s violations of international law and Israel’s oppression of Palestinian rights. 

As such, the Jan De Nul Group would become a legitimate target for popular boycotts, protests and campaigns aimed at persuading governments and private sector bodies not to award your business lucrative contracts.

Luxembourg: Pension fund boycotting Israeli companies for settlement activities

The Luxembourg government pension fun, Fonds de compensation (FDC) is boycotting eight Israeli companies and one American company for being involved with settlements/security fence/human rights violations in the State of Palestine.

Altogether, 15% of companies on their exclusion list are committing crimes in Palestine.

The Israeli companies are real estate companies AFI Group and Jerusalem Economy Ltd for "Association to supporting construction of illegal settlements in occupied territories (State of Palestine)" .

Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, First International Bank of Israel, Israel Discount Bank, and Mizrahi Tefahot Bank are being boycotted for "association to financing illegal settlements in occupied territories (State of Palestine)" .

Elbit Systems is boycotted for "Association to providing security systems for illegal separation barrier on occupied territories (State of Palestine)".

FDC is also boycotting Motorola Systems for "Association to assisting in human rights violations in occupied territories (State of Palestine)".

More: FDC (PDF document)

Netherlands: Dutch site sells Holocaust victims’ letters alongside Nazi memorabilia

A Dutch online sales platform is selling letters that Jewish Holocaust survivors wrote in concentration camps. 

One of the sellers on Marktplaats.nl, a resident of Luxembourg identified by the handle Bundum, is offering 29 items, including one letter which he describes as “an original letter from Auschwitz dated Nov. 9, 1941 with censor’s seal.” Another letter, dated March 4, comes in an envelope with a stamp carrying the portrait of Adolf Hitler. Other listings by Bundum include ads for Nazi toy soldiers.

More: JTA