Anti-Israel Belgian PM Trounced in Election

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, one of Europe’s staunchest critics of Israeli policy, resigned from office on Monday after suffering a crushing blow in this week’s European Parliament election.

De Croo’s Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats party suffered heavy defeats in Sunday’s general election.

“For us, it’s a particularly difficult evening. We lost. As of tomorrow, I will resign as prime minister,” a visibly emotional De Croo told supporters on Sunday.

Israeli Foreign Ministry officials had been worried that De Croo would lead Belgium to officially recognize a Palestinian state, following in the footsteps of Spain, Ireland, Norway, and Slovenia, according to a report in Haaretz.

Last November, De Croo, along with Spanish premier Pedro Sanchez, held a press conference at the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt where they strongly condemned Israel’s military response to the Hamas terror group’s Oct. 7 invasion of southern Israel.

De Croo complained that “too many civilians have been killed in this conflict,” adding: “We cannot accept a society is destroyed the way the society of Gaza is being destroyed.”

In response, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen summoned the Spanish and Belgian ambassadors for a strong reprimand.

“We condemn the false claims of the prime ministers of Spain and Belgium who give support to terrorism,” Cohen said. “Israel is acting according to international law and fighting a murderous terrorist organization worse than ISIS that commits war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

De Croo had also sought for Belgium’s European Union allies to join in his push to ban imports on products from the West Bank.

Belgium, which currently chairs the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU — the bloc’s intergovernmental part — has not been able to advance the proposal.