‘’By abandoning Israel, you are abandoning your Jewish community,’’  the Jewish leaders had said, deploring Alexander De Croo’s ”strong hostility” to Israel.

”During my visit to Israel last November, I was able to see for myself the extent to which the attack on October 7 had shaken Israeli society, and the extent to which the fight against terrorism is an existential struggle for the country,” responded Alexander De Croo.

“Criticism of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s far-right governm must be possible, without ever being reduced to criticism of Israel. I would go even further and say that we have a duty to criticize a government where radical extremists advocate colonization and population replacement,’’ the Belgian leader said.

Beginning of April, Belgian Jewish leaders wrote a letter to Prime Minister Pedro Alexander De Croo in which they deplored his ‘’strong hostility’’ to Israel since his visit to the Middle East with his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez. ‘’With Belgium leading the way among European countries in radical criticism of Israel’s response  to the October 7 massacre,’’ reads the letter signed by Yves Oschinsky, President of CCOJB, the umbrella group for Jewish organisations in Belgium and Baroness Regina Sluszny, President of the Forum of Jewish organisations in Antwerp.

‘’By abandoning Israel, you are abandoning your Jewish community,’’  they added.

The letter deplored the Belgian Prime Minister’s ‘’strong hostility’’ to Israel since his visit tot he Middle East with his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez, ‘’with Belgium leading the way among European countries in radical criticism of Israel’s response’’ to the October 7 massacre.

‘’After the shock, extreme sadness and anger provoked by the unspeakably cruel barbarity of the October 7 pogrom, the Jewish community is now living in deep concern for its own safety, given the strong hostility it feels towards itself,’’ the letter noted.

It addeds: ‘’Worse still, in the absence of any sign of real empathy, she feels isolated and abandoned, to such an extent that many Jews are wondering about their future in Belgium.’’

The letter also stressed that most Jewish Belgians ‘’are attached to the State of Israel and strongly support its existence and security.’’

‘’October 7th represents an existential threat to the State of Israel, which it had a duty to defend by protecting its population, and the world’s major democracies have agreed on this essential right,’’ it said.7

In his response, made public on Saturday, Prime Minister De Croo starts by saying that he is writing ”because  the concerns and opinions of Belgium’s Jewish community Jewish community in Belgium are of great importance to me.”

”During my visit to Israel last November, I was able to see for myself the extent to which the attack on October 7 had shaken Israeli society, and the extent to which the fight against terrorism is an existential struggle for the country.”

He added: ” Along with the entire Belgian government, I have repeatedly strongly condemned the barbarity of this Hamas attack. Since then, the government has unceasingly called for the unconditional release of all hostages. Israel has the right to defend itself and ensure the safety of its population.”

“I therefore take issue with the strong hostility towards Israel that you attribute to me. I refute this assertion and even find it dangerous”, De Croo wrote in his response. “Criticism of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s far-right governm must be possible, without ever being reduced to criticism of Israel. I would go even further and say that we have a duty to criticize a government where radical extremists advocate colonization and population replacement,’’ the Belgian leader said.

While asking Jewish organizations for their understanding of the “misfortune that has befallen the Palestinian population in Gaza, where thousands of innocent civilians have been killed”, the Prime Minister reaffirmeds that anti-Semitism remains condemnable in all circumstances, and said  he takes the increase in anti-Semitic acts in Belgium and elsewhere very seriously.’’ ‘’ The country has stepped up security measures to protect the Jewish community,’’ he added, mentioning that  he is in favor of appointing an independent national coordinator for combating antisemitism, as requested by the two Jewish organisations.

The Prime Minister asserted that “the Israeli government has never presented a credible plan for a politically sustainable solution,” and warned that “violence and massive repression lead to new and even greater radicalism.”

“We need responsible and empathetic leaders in both Ramallah and Jerusalem to achieve a two-state solution and enduring peace,” he concluded in his response.

In their letter, the Jewish leaders deplored that the Prime Minister’s positions ‘’no longer make any reference to the barbaric crimes of October 7, without mentioning the feminicides, rapes and abject mutilations suffered by Israeli women, without even demanding the release of the hostages held captive for almost six months, and without expressing our country’s solidarity with the Israeli population.’’

‘’You even asked Israel to demonstrate that it was not using famine as a weapon of war, thus demanding negative proof against any elementary rule requiring a prosecutor to provide proof of his accusations.’’

The letter also mentioned the fact that several members of the Belgian government ‘’ have themselves taken part in this radical attitude against Israel.’’

‘’You know the direct link between the situation in the Middle East and the explosion of anti-Semitism, and the equation made by too many people between Israel and the Jews, whom they blame for a war 4,000 km away, for which they are in no way responsible.’’

‘’It is this importing of conflict that puts us in direct danger and worries us to the utmost, in the fear of acts of violence,’’ the letter said.