In an open letter backed by 300 prominent signatories, SOS Gaza Belgium calls on the federal government to send a stronger signal to Israel. ‘Raise the bar: stop the blockade, stop the genocide in Gaza,’ reads the letter published in daily De Morgen. Among other things, it calls for sanctions against Israel.
‘While untold suffering continues in Gaza, the members of our government have in recent weeks been discussing a Gaza resolution with the handbrake on,’ the open letter from SOS Gaza Belgium published in De Morgen begins. It denounces the ongoing violence and blockade of aid supplies in the Gaza Strip.
It was signed by 300 prominent figures from the cultural sector, academia, trade unions and civil society.
‘The images from Gaza keep coming at us, but there is still the feeling that nothing is happening,’ says actress Katrien De Ruysscher, one of the initiators of the letter. ‘The government's resolution may be a symbolic step, but a more decisive signal is urgently needed.’
Sanctions urgently needed
‘The bar must be raised much higher,’ the letter reads. ‘We urge urgent sanctions: a conclusive arms embargo, a complete ban on the import of products from the illegal settlements, an immediate halt to any form of academic, cultural, economic and political cooperation with Israel. We also call for an immediate cessation of diplomatic relations.'
Handing over letter to government leaders
‘Tomorrow we will go to the Wetstraat in Brussels with a number of signatories and Palestinian people to hand over the letter (at the PM’s office). We want to speak to government leaders like the prime minister and the foreign minister and call them to account.'