During an emotional visit to the sites of the Gazan terrorist attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, on Tuesday, Denis Ducarme, a member of Belgium’s federal parliament, noted that the shock is still being felt among Israelis, two years after the deadliest single-day attack on the Jewish state since it regained independence.
“I wanted to come here last year, but I couldn’t,” Ducarme, who is from the Reformist Movement, a French-speaking party that is part of Belgium’s coalition government, told journalists. “I was very affected by the attack on October 7, which killed 1,219 Israelis and led to the kidnapping of 251 people.
“But the trauma of October 7 has been underestimated in Europe,” he continued. One must visit the sites of the October massacres to fully appreciate the trauma that continues to haunt Israeli society, across all political divides, he added.
Ducarme said that he had also been affected by the film “Bearing Witness to the October 7th Massacre,” a compilation of raw footage from the attacks. He helped to screen the film in the Belgian federal parliament despite opposition by some parties. “Fortunately, there is now hope for peace. But the war and the humanitarian tragedy began here, on October 7, 2023,” he said.
“Newspapers and films are all well and good, but I knew that by coming here I would have the opportunity to meet survivors of the attack and gain a deeper understanding,” the lawmaker said.
He met with Addi Cherry, a survivor of the slaughter at Kibbutz Nahal Oz, originally from Belgium, and with Kati Zohar, whose 23-year-old daughter Bar was killed at the Supernova music festival massacre, where 378 mostly young people were murdered.
Cherry was moved by Ducarme’s visit to her kibbutz. “Your support is so important, especially on this day,” because Europe doesn’t understand what happened here, she said.
Ducarme declared: “October 7, 2023, marks the biggest terrorist attack since September 11. It was Hamas that blindly came to massacre children, women, men and the elderly, simply because they were Jewish. But this was not just an act of terrorism. It was also an act of war, since Hamas terrorists entered Israeli territory to commit these atrocities. October 7 therefore also marked the beginning of the war.
“What country, in Europe or elsewhere, would have allowed more than 1,200 of its citizens to be massacred on its soil without taking retaliatory measures?” Ducarme asked. “A war that led to the humanitarian tragedy we see today.”
He noted that while the public is presented with images of the war in Gaza every day, the fact that the events of Oct. 7 triggered the war has been sorely underplayed.
He also deplored that the war in the Gaza Strip “is much more widely discussed and mobilizes more people today than the conflict in Ukraine, even though the latter has much more direct consequences for Europe and its sovereignty.”
Asked why this subject generates so much passion and irrationality, Ducarme said: “Because in Belgium, a significant minority of the population is either of Jewish or Arab origin, and this inevitably creates a direct emotional connection with this region of the world. This emotional connection is exploited by a number of political parties and civil society organizations, often in a controversial and passionate manner.
“Conversely, the federal government’s position seems to me to be rational and balanced: On the one hand, it did not want Belgium to recognize a Palestinian state unconditionally—without the release of hostages who have been in Hamas’s hands for two years, the withdrawal of Hamas from Palestinian governance, and its disarmament.
“On the other hand, it has planned an increase in humanitarian aid and sanctions against the Israeli government, with the aim of bringing about a ceasefire and ensuring that Israel assumes greater humanitarian responsibility in the Gaza Strip.’’
On Oct. 7, Hamas-led terrorists entered communities along the Gaza border including Nir Oz, Nahal Oz, Be’eri, Nirim, Zikim, Kfar Aza, Netiv HaAsara, Sderot (where the police station was destroyed), Netivot and Kissufim, and the Nahal Oz military base.
They murdered residents who were eating with their families, playing ball with their children or enjoying the holiday of Simchat Torah.
“What is also often unknown in Belgium is that these kibbutzim located along the border are known for their pacifist nature and for regularly helping the neighboring Palestinian population,” said Ducarme.
“I also saw during my visit the deep divide between Israelis themselves: on one side, those who want to see the end of Hamas; on the other, those who want to see the end of the war. Israel is deeply divided on this issue.
“The problem is that we need to end this war and that today on the other side of the border in the Gaza Strip, there are also thousands of civilians who die, and their lives are not less important,” he said.
The Belgian MP expressed hope that U.S. President Donald Trump’s ambitious plan will lead to a lasting peace.
“I am very hopeful. Trump is often judged on his verbal violence, his taste for showmanship and his various excesses. I intend to judge him on his results. Whether you like him or not, Trump’s plan, whatever you may think of it, is the one that brings us closest to the peace we have been pursuing for two years,” Ducarme said.
