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<\/a>\u2018Who Is the Biggest Bastard?\u2019 Belgian Politician Equates Israel With Hamas After Refusing Jewish New Year Greeting<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\nAlgemeiner Staff<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n A senior Belgian politician who recently refused to send a Jewish New Year message<\/a> has once again sparked outrage for equating Israel with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.<\/span><\/p>\n Matthias Diependaele, Minister\u2011President of Flanders \u2014 the Dutch-speaking region in northern Belgium \u2014 was speaking before the Flemish Parliament on Tuesday when he argued the world\u2019s lone Jewish state and only democracy in the Middle East was no better morally than an international designated terrorist group.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHow do you explain who is the biggest bastard?\u201d he asked. \u201cOn the one hand, you have an innovative, modern country that should be based on Western standards, but uses disproportionate force and commits human rights violations without any compassion. On the other hand, you see a terrorist organization that doesn\u2019t hesitate to hide behind a human shield. Who is the bigger bastard? The one who shoots at children? Or the one who uses them as a human shield? I don\u2019t know. I choose the innocent victims, and I want to think about how best to help them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists started the ongoing war with their invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023<\/a>, when they murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages while perpetrating widespread sexual violence. In response, Israel has waged a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas\u2019s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.<\/span><\/p>\n Israel says it has gone to unprecedented lengths during its war effort to try and avoid civilian casualties, noting its efforts to evacuate areas before it targets them and to warn residents of impending military operations with leaflets, text messages, and other forms of communication. However, Hamas, which rules Gaza, has in many cases prevented people from leaving, according to the Israeli miitary.<\/span><\/p>\n Another challenge for Israel is Hamas\u2019s widely recognized military strategy of embedding its terrorists within Gaza\u2019s civilian population and commandeering civilian facilities like hospitals<\/a>, schools, and mosques to run operations and direct attacks.<\/span><\/p>\n Diependaele belongs to the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), the same center-right party led by Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever. His parliamentary remarks prompted immediate backlash.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe Flemish Alliance has completely surrendered to leftist pressure and no longer has a moral compass. He compares a free society and democratic state, existentially threatened, to a gang of murderous Muslim terrorists,\u201d said Sam van Rooy, a lawmaker from the right-wing Vlaams Belang party, according to multiple reports. \u201cThis is why I continue responding to the anti-Israeli debate, constantly fed by leftist parties and traditional parties \u2014 it causes masks to fall. Israel is a litmus test. Now we know that, unfortunately, Flanders is controlled by a prime minister who cannot distinguish between good and evil.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Diependaele has even received criticism from other members of Belgium\u2019s five-party federal government coalition.<\/span><\/p>\n Sammy Mahdi, head of the Christian Democratic and Flemish party (CD&V), described the remarks in an Instagram post as \u201cshameful\u201d and indicative of \u201ca lack of common sense.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n CD&V and Vooruit, another political party in the coalition, said on Wednesday that Diependaele was not speaking on behalf of the government, according to Belgian media.<\/span><\/p>\n Diependaele\u2019s comments came after he declined a request last week<\/a> by the Belgian Jewish newspaper The Centrale<\/em> to provide a Rosh Hashanah message. Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, will take place in late September this year.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAfter internal deliberation, we regret to inform you that, given the current situation and sensitivities concerning the tensions in the Middle East, we cannot follow up on your request,\u201d the statement from Diependaele\u2019s office read.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAnything that bears even the slightest connection to this conflict is being closely monitored and examined under a magnifying glass. For that reason, we do not deem it opportune to go into this any further,\u201d it continued.<\/span><\/p>\n According to the Jewish newspaper, requesting a Rosh Hashanah greeting from Belgium\u2019s leaders for the country\u2019s Jewish citizens has been a long-standing tradition.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis year, even that became radioactive,\u201d The Centrale<\/em> wrote.<\/span><\/p>\n Shortly after the newspaper published Diependaele\u2019s response, which drew widespread outrage from Belgium\u2019s Jewish community, the politician rejected claims of antisemitism and attempted to defend his earlier statement.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMy refusal is purely based on the principle that, for more than 15 years in my role as a representative of the people, I have not supported religious activities,\u201d Diependaele wrote in a new letter sent to The Centrale<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI have also never accepted invitations for the Eid. I have also never taken part in a Te Deum for Catholics,\u201d the Flemsih leader continued. \u201cBy this I am in no way passing judgment on any religion or on the people who practice it. It is, however, my conviction that no religion \u2014 including my own \u2014 has any role to play in the exercise of my mandate.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n However, the paper rejected Diependaele\u2019s new letter, arguing that his shift from \u201ctoo sensitive right now\u201d to a \u201ctimeless principle\u201d was an attempt to mask his initial fear of public backlash.<\/span><\/p>\n The World Jewish Congress denounced Diependaele\u2019s actions as a clear act of antisemitism.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHolding Jews in the Diaspora collectively accountable for the actions of Israel \u2013 is antisemitic. To be a political leader, and to refuse to acknowledge the traditions and culture of your country\u2019s Jewish community \u2013 because of Israel \u2013 is antisemitic,\u201d the organization said in a statement. \u201cWhat transpired is quite clear: A political leader declined to acknowledge their Jewish citizens because of Israel and the perceived public backlash about engaging with Jews.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n While members of the Belgian government have been pushing for a tougher stance against Israel amid the Gaza war, the country has been less critical of the Israeli military campaign in recent months than other European countries.<\/span><\/p>\n In late April, for example, De Wever rejected a journalist\u2019s claim<\/a> that Israel is committing \u201cgenocide\u201d in Gaza and argued it is premature to recognize a \u201cPalestinian state.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Weeks earlier, Belgium announced it would not enforce<\/a> the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged war crimes in Gaza, should he visit Brussels.<\/span><\/p>\n Zawarto\u015b\u0107 publikowanych artyku\u0142\u00f3w i materia\u0142\u00f3w nie reprezentuje pogl\u0105d\u00f3w ani opinii Reunion’68,<\/em> . \u2018Who Is the Biggest Bastard?\u2019 Belgian Politician Equates Israel With Hamas After Refusing Jewish New Year Greeting Algemeiner Staff Matthias Diependaele, Minister\u2011President of Flanders, has faced backlash after declining to send a Rosh Hashanah message to Belgium\u2019s Jewish community. Photo: Screenshot A senior Belgian politician who recently refused to send a Jewish New Year message has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[33,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123594"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=123594"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":123635,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123594\/revisions\/123635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=123594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=123594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=123594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n![](\"https:\/\/www.algemeiner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Matthias-Diependaele-Belgium.png\")
Matthias Diependaele, Minister\u2011President of Flanders, has faced backlash after declining to send a Rosh Hashanah message to Belgium\u2019s Jewish community. Photo: Screenshot<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n
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