Belgium has become the latest European country to announce steps toward recognizing a Palestinian state – 23 months into the genocide carried out by European Union ally Israel – Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot declared on Tuesday. The recognition will reportedly be accompanied by other measures targeting Israeli settlers and certain government officials, but it is also being made conditional on the suppression of Hamas and the return of Israeli hostages.

The Belgian government’s stance resembles that of other European states, which have recently (and tentatively) announced limited measures against Israel after mounting grassroots resistance to European complicity in war crimes. It took dozens of protests, parliamentary debates and interventions before the government considered even minimal steps, warned Peter Mertens, Secretary General of the Workers’ Party of Belgium (PTB-PVDA), shortly before the announcement.

Later, reacting to Prévot’s remarks, Mertens said the fact measures were finally being considered is positive, but called their content disappointing. “They are mainly aimed at saving the government, not the Palestinian people,” he said. “Taking measures just to avoid a government crisis and ‘restore peace within the government’ is very different from taking measures to end the genocide of the Palestinians.”

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Together with progressive groups and trade unions, PTB-PVDA has spent months calling for stronger action against Israel, including the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador and the severing of all economic ties with the occupation entity. At the same time, the party criticized Belgium and the EU for continuing to support Israel politically and economically, even when officials started to publicly refer to the “grave humanitarian situation” in Gaza.

“The problem is that from the very beginning, certain forces in our government supported Israel’s far right with weapons, economically, and ideologically,” Mertens said during a parliamentary session. He noted that the same right-wing forces are still obstructing meaningful action against Israel’s atrocity crimes, inviting Prévot to rely on an alternative majority in parliament to pass an economic and military embargo on Israel, in line with public demands.

While this scenario did not materialize, Mertens argued that Prévot’s announcement nonetheless shows that months of mobilization and public pressure are having an effect. “Above all, this proves that pressure from below must continue, and that we must make the September 7 demonstration for Palestine a great success,” he said, amplifying calls for the upcoming protest.

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