An Israeli soldier fires tear gas at Palestinian youth in the West Bank (Getty-Archive)
The Belgian Labor Party denounced the Antwerp City Council's decision to purchase tear gas firing equipment for the local police force from the Israeli company "Ispra".
The party condemned the decision as a support for Israeli military industries, noting that such equipment and weapons are used against Palestinian civilians and are tested on them.
Peter Mertens, a member of the Belgian Parliament and Secretary-General of the Labor Party, said during a demonstration of solidarity with the Palestinian people that “Ispra” is not an ordinary company, but rather the main arms supplier to the Israeli occupation army.
Mertens - who is also a member of the Antwerp City Council - pointed out that ISPRA weapons were used against the Palestinians during the “return marches” on the Gaza Strip border in 2018.
He said that tear gas was used against Palestinians, including peaceful demonstrators, journalists, and families, resulting in many casualties.
Mertens condemned the purchase of weapons that were tested on Palestinian civilians (Al Jazeera)
Mertens criticized the policies of Antwerp Mayor Bart De Wever in support of Israel, including cooperation between police agencies on both sides, military transfers through the city to Israel, and the withdrawal of Belgian citizenship from children of Palestinian families.
The Secretary-General of the Belgian Labor Party called on the international community to define Israel as a colonial power, an apartheid state, and an occupying force.
In statements to Al Jazeera Net at the beginning of this March, Mertens described what is happening in the Gaza Strip as “the first ongoing genocidal war live and on television,” adding that the situation in the Strip has become “inhumane and unlivable, and that the Israeli bombing has destroyed all the infrastructure.” The infrastructure is there.”
Israel has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip for more than 5 months, leaving tens of thousands of martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, amid warnings from international organizations of famine - especially in the northern Gaza Strip - as a result of the occupation restricting the entry of aid.
Source: Al Jazeera + Israeli press