Pointing the finger at Brussels

Jerusalem Post ^ | Mar. 5, 2003 | Uri Dan

[Nachum]

The Belgian High Court's recent ruling that it was competent to try Israelis on charges related to the massacre perpetrated by Lebanese Christians against Palestinian Moslems in the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps in September 1982 was probably the most serious and impudent anti-Israeli legal decision ever made by a democratic country.

It stated that the court could try, in far-off Belgium, Ariel Sharon, who served as defense minister at the time, then chief of General Staff Rafael Eitan, and Amos Yaron and Amir Drori, generals serving under his command. The court ruled that while proceedings against Sharon would be frozen during his term as prime minister, the other three persons had no immunity and could be tried in Brussels, now.

Not surprisingly, the effect of this decision was immediate. Shin Bet head Avi Dichter, a central player in the difficult but successful Israeli campaign against suicide attacks, canceled a planned visit to Brussels. He had been invited there to lecture on international terrorism, but in face of the apprehension that the Belgian judicial authorities might arrest him he saw no reason to visit a country whose authorities hypocritically profess to represent universal justice.

It is very sad that Israel's relations with Belgium have come to crisis point.
During the Second World War a Belgian Quisling called Leon Degrel persecuted the Jews much as the Belgian colonialists behaved in the countries they ruled in darkest Africa. Belgians collaborated with the Nazis and helped them send Jews from a community that had flourished in Belgium for centuries to the death camps.

Other Belgians fought the Nazis and aided the Jews. The Jewish state was helped by Belgian friends. Israel purchased arms in Belgium and military cooperation was established in vital fields.

More than 50 years have elapsed since World War Two, and an evil wind blows from Brussels. Belgian politicians, some covert anti-Semites, prefer to adopt the cover that they "only" oppose the policy of Ariel Sharon's government and have, of course, nothing against the Jews. Other Belgian apparatchiks are very active against Israel because Belgium has an increasing Arab and Muslim population whose votes are needed at election time.

Against this background Palestinian elements were encouraged to exploit the Belgian law and demand the trial of Sharon and other Israeli figures in 2001. They based their demands on the conclusions of Israel's own commission of enquiry.

Although it questioned all the witnesses immediately after the tragedy and found not a trace of criminal responsibility in Sharon or any other Israeli, the prosecution in Belgium distorted the Kahan Commission's conclusions in the interests of getting the charges submitted in Brussels.

When it became apparent that the prosecution in Brussels had a political orientation, Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel hurriedly arranged a meeting with the prime minister in Berlin. He told Sharon that the Belgian executive authority could not in fact intervene with the judicial authority, but said the Belgian government would take steps to change the law that had created this absurd situation, that was complicating the relations between Brussels and Jerusalem.

But the Belgian authorities did nothing. The impression is that they were lying in wait for Sharon, acting maliciously on the diplomatic level against Sharon's government and on behalf of PLO leader Yasser Arafat. They apparently hoped that Sharon would lose in the elections and thereby lack immunity, and that the government subsequently formed in Jerusalem wouldn't care what happened to Sharon in Belgium. With the hopes of Michel and his friends dashed, the Belgian court published its scandalous decision on February 12.

MICHEL AGAIN rushed to confuse the issue by publishing "an open letter to my Israeli friends" in Haaretz last month, in which he wrote: "Relations between Belgium and Israel are at a low ebb today, and I regret this very much. The cause is a recent ruling by the Belgian Court of Cassation confirming the scope of our genocide law of 1993.

"A complaint was lodged on the basis of that law in 2001, against your prime minister, Ariel Sharon. The law grants Belgian judges universal jurisdiction for a number of very serious crimes genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
"I am saddened that my Israeli friends cannot in good faith accept the ethical underpinnings of the law of 1993, and continue to repeat that this law is aimed specifically against Israel. This is simply not true."

The foreign minister seemingly failed to notice that on October 31, 2001 Haaretz had uncovered the true face of the Belgian authorities: "What really happened to Sharon's Belgian file? Did Israel really have solid grounds to be optimistic, or were officials again guilty of wishful thinking? Israeli officials point their fingers at the Belgians, hinting that a double-cross had tainted the handling of the case.

"In any case, Israeli officials think they have a whiff of something rotten in Brussels, possibly coming from political interference in the court system's handling of the Sharon file.
"In a complaint about the Belgian legal system's handling of the file, Attorney-General Elyakim Rubinstein sent a sharp letter last week to his Belgian counterpart."

Israeli legal representatives have since then traveled to Brussels and Strasbourg to explain to the Belgian authorities that their step was unjust, anti-judicial, immoral. But it is clear that the legal campaign Israel is waging not on Sharon's behalf but for the honor of the state and its right to defend itself has failed. The Belgian authorities, with horrifying cynicism and appalling hypocrisy, rejected all the requests of the jurists from Jerusalem.

Consequently the campaign against the Belgian authorities must be transferred to the place of their own choosing the public, political arena. To this end, a courageous Jewish leader called Jack Rosen wrote to Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt on February 18, in the name of the American Jewish Congress:

"We understand that you are visiting the United States with the purpose of encouraging American businesses to invest in Belgium. We think you are wasting your time.

"One of the concerns American businesses have when deciding whether to invest in a country is its legal climate. Last week's decision of the Court of Cassation interpreting Belgian law to permit the prosecution of persons with no connection to Belgium for alleged crimes with no connection to Belgium is certain to make such investment highly unlikely. That interpretation would allow Belgium to try American businessmen for alleged offenses against the law of nations committed anywhere in the world.

"A businessman visiting a plant in Belgium could be arrested and held for trial in Belgium for acts done half a world away and with no plausible connection to Belgium. We imagine no American business would expose employees to such risks."
Rosen also wrote to his friends in upper US circles: "I am sure you are aware of Belgium's outrageous conclusion that it may prosecute foreign nationals accused of alleged crimes committed outside of Belgium.

"This decision revived a potential criminal prosecution of Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, and other high officials of the Israel Defense Forces. We thought you would want to see the attached letter that we have sent to Belgium's prime minister describing the effect that this decision will have upon Americans considering doing business in Belgium.

"We have also circulated the letter to American business leaders to alert them to the potential danger that this decision poses to American soldiers and officials, as well as to those who do business in Belgium."

This may be the only language the Belgian government understands.

The writer is the Mideast correspondent of The New York Post.

[Deb]

You had to know Belgium would waffle.

[Constantine XIII]

Which finger? ;o{P

[moneyrunner]

When my daughter visited Europe two yeara ago, Belgium was the only country in which she was harrassed becasue of her nationality.

Belgians are scum.