A senior Belgian ruling party official sparked international controversy Tuesday by delivering an outrageous parliamentary statement equating Israel with Hamas terrorists.
"Don't know who's a bigger villain, Israel or Hamas," Matthias Diependaele said in a speech before the Flemish Parliament. Diependaele, who heads one of Belgium's three regions, belongs to the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), the same center-right party led by Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, which includes numerous Israel supporters.
Diependaele's statement represents another example of a growing wave of center-right Europeans expressing harsh criticism against Israel.
Parliament member Sam van Rooy from the right-wing Vlaams Belang party, a staunch Israel supporter, attacked fiercely. "The 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," he said.
Van Rooy added, "This is why I continue responding to the anti-Israeli debate, constantly fed by leftist parties and traditional parties - 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."
Anas al-Sharif = Hamas, maar niet in het Vlaams parlement! 🎪
Daar maakte het groene gekrijs van Nadia Naji kennelijk zo'n indruk op de N-VA, dat die laffe partij inbond en beweerde dat ze "de naam verkeerd begrepen hadden". 🤡👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/CdorXZCg26
— Sam van Rooy MP (@SamvanRooy1) August 19, 2025
The outrageous statement comes after Diependaele refused to send "Happy New Year" greetings to the Jewish community, a Belgian custom spanning over a century. Initially, his "advisory cabinet" explained the refusal stemmed from "the sensitive situation in the Middle East." After a storm erupted over linking holiday greetings to the Middle East situation, Diependaele changed his reasoning and claimed he "does not customarily send greetings for religious holidays" of any religion.
