Israel’s ambassador to Belgium joined local politicians in condemning a protest in Brussels where two girls were filmed praising Hamas leaders in an Arabic-language song while sitting on the shoulders of keffiyeh-clad men.
“The future generation. Tell me who you admire, tell me who you teach your children to glorify, and I tell you who you are,” Israeli ambassador Idit Rosenzweig-Abu wrote. According to her Aug. 26 post on X, the video was filmed last week in central Brussels.
It shows the girls singing: “Glory to all our martyrs, glory to Yahya Sinwar, glory to Abu Hamza,” a reference to the Hamas senior leader killed by Israel in October, and Naji Abu Saif, a leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s Al-Quds Brigades, who was killed in March.
They also praised Walid Nimer As’aad Daqqa, an Israeli Arab and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist who died in an Israeli prison in April.
Belgistan 🇧🇪 anno 2025: op een 'Palestina'-betoging in Brussel roepen moslimtieners op om 'onze martelaars' te eren.
— Sam van Rooy MP (@SamvanRooy1) August 26, 2025
Ze noemen daarbij expliciet de moorddadige Hamas-jihadist Yahya Sinwar, nota bene de architect van de genocidale jihadistische massaslachting van 7 oktober 2023… pic.twitter.com/YPldbqTOp7
“Belgistan in the year 2025: At a ‘Palestine’ demonstration in Brussels, Muslim children call to honor ‘our martyrs,’” Sam van Rooy, a lawmaker for the Flemish Interest (Vlaams Belang) party, wrote on X on Tuesday.
“They explicitly mention the murderous Hamas jihadist Yahya Sinwar, no less the architect of the genocidal jihadist mass slaughter of October 7, 2023 (the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust),” he noted. “Just imagine if these were native Flemish teenagers at a demonstration honoring Nazi leaders: Then there would be days of outrage from countless politicians and journalists!”
Separately, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever on Tuesday said during a press conference that “Hamas must disappear completely” before Belgium recognizes Palestinian statehood.
“There must be a credible Palestinian Authority, an agreement must be reached on borders, and Israel must receive security guarantees. Without that, recognition makes no sense,” he told reporters during a visit to Germany. Recognizing a Palestinian state would be “pointless and counterproductive” unless these points are addressed, he added.
France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Australia and Canada are among the Western nations whose leaders have announced plans to recognize a Palestinian state this year, amid diplomatic tensions with Israel over its war against Hamas in Gaza.
De Wever wrote a note in German at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin: “On behalf of the Belgian government and all people and communities living together in peace in Belgium, I express my deepest sympathy and my respect. We will remember all the victims. I stand here humbly at this place of remembrance. The Jewish community will always have a home in Europe.”
The head of the Brussels-based European Jewish Association, Rabbi Menachem Margolin, welcomed De Wever’s words and thanked him for his stance, the group said in a statement.
In June, posters with the names and photos of Margolin and two other EJA staffers were put up in Brussels with the accusation: “He/she lobbies for genocide.”
In May, anti-Israel activists staged a street performance in Brussels depicting triumphant Palestinian gunmen shooting Israelis. The show, featuring four main performers wearing keffiyehs, two of them in military fatigues, was documented in Brussels on May 15.
