Feb. 14, 2003 FM Netanyahu charges Belgium with 'blood libel' By HERB KEINON AND DAN IZENBERG The Belgian Supreme Court ruling in the Ariel Sharon case is neither "political" nor an "insult" aimed at Israel, Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel said on Thursday. Michel spoke in the Belgian parliament just hours after Foreign Minister Binyamin Netanyahu scolded Belgium, through Ambassador Wilfred Geens. "What was decided in Belgium is a blood libel and harsh blow against truth, justice, and morality," Netanyahu said. The court ruled on Wednesday that Sharon can be tried for war crimes once he no longer enjoys immunity as prime minister, paving the way for survivors of the 1982 Sabra and Shatilla massacre to press their case against him in Belgian courts. Netanyahu, according to his office, told Geens that the ruling was more the result of a political, than a legal process. "Belgium gave those carrying out terror a prize of having their voice heard in a Belgian court," he said. He also said that the law giving Belgium universal jurisdiction to try war crimes committed anywhere, against anyone, is turning the whole country into a kangaroo court. "Libels like these are suited to the old Europe with all its illnesses," Netanyahu said. "But we are certain that there are new forces in Europe that will have the sense to change this position." Michel, saying he does not want to engage in polemics with Israel, responded to parliamentary questions about how this decision would impact on Israeli-Belgian relations by saying the recall of Israel's ambassador over the issue should not be overdramatized. "It is not the first time that Israel expressed its displeasure about the complaint [against Sharon]," Michel said. "On the one hand, as minister of foreign affairs, I regret that our bilateral relations with Israel suffer under this legal case. Belgium has always had good relations with Israel and wishes to maintain and develop them further," he said. "On the other hand, I have to respect the laws of this land and the independence of the judiciary, while trying to manage as well as possible the diplomatic consequences." Michel said that he rejects Netanyahu's argument that the decision was a political ruling. "I have to reject these unfounded allegations. I regret that Israel refuses to accept the philosophy, which underlies the law of 1993, and continues to think that the law is essentially aimed at Israel," he said. He said he wants to "safeguard our relations with Israel," and that the contribution "which Belgium hopes to make to the search for a political solution in the Middle East depends on it." A few hours after meeting Geens, Netanyahu met with Ambassador to Belgium Yehudi Kinar, who was recalled in protest and returned Thursday afternoon for consultations. The newly appointed Kinar went to Belgium only last month, and has not yet presented his credentials to King Albert II. "This is a very serious and significant step," one senior Foreign Ministry official said of the recall. "It is the most serious way to show them our displeasure, and let them know what we think. We are sending them a message that we are both disappointed and insulted." Asked if he feels this can change anything, the official said it will not change the decision of the court, since the legal process in Belgium is finished. But he said it could have an impact on the Belgian parliament, where there are legal processes under way regarding the law, and it could have an impact on statements made by the Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, who until now has supported the controversial law. The official said it is not yet clear how long Kinar will remain here. Meanwhile, President Moshe Katsav sent a sharp letter of protest to King Albert II, totally rejecting Belgium's moral right to bring Israeli leaders and IDF officers to trial. Katsav, according to a statement issued by his spokesman, said that "Israeli leaders and IDF officers operate according to international norms, Israeli law, their conscience, and basic human morality, and no one has the right to doubt the ethical standards Israel to which holds itself, and those who accuse us would do well to reflect on their past actions." Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yisrael Lau was even more blunt in his comments. He issued a statement saying, "The thought that a nation which stood by and watched when Jewish blood was spilled like water and which ignored the cries of victims is now elevating itself to the position of world policeman is outrageous in the extreme." He said it is "regretful that a state which remained quiet at a time when it should have been screaming out in the name of humanity is now expressing itself with such a pretentious and hypocritical voice in order to cast fault on IDF soldiers and officers. These soldiers and officers have endangered their own lives many times to refrain from injuring innocent civilians." Attorney-General Elyakim Rubinstein also blasted the decision. "The criminal indictment in Belgium regarding Sabra and Shatilla against Sharon, [former chief of General Staff Rafael] Eitan, [former OC Northern Command Amir] Drori, and [former senior Intelligence Corps officer Amos] Yaron is an injustice, not a search for justice," he said. "Anyone who examined this case knows that it was submitted solely for political reasons." Rubinstein said it was no coincidence that the charge was made 20 years after the event and after Sharon became prime minister, so that "it was obvious to the initiators of the trial that it would become a media event. A fair judicial system in a fair country cannot behave like an ostrich or a visitor from outer space and not see such simple facts and cooperate, regretfully, in delusional judicial procedures." He said that the actions of the men currently facing war crimes charges had been investigated in Israel, "whose government is based on the rule of law no less than Belgium's," by a panel headed by a justice of the Supreme Court. He promised that the state would defend any Israeli standing trial in a foreign court. "The obligation to back our people has been fulfilled in the past and will be in the future," he said. "It is a shame, however, that [we will] have to waste many human and financial resources on baseless procedures, the nature of which is known to everyone. Belgium and its judicial system know it, too. "Israel has no substantive reason to worry about any international procedures. It has reason to worry about political moves disguised as judicial ones, which have nothing to do with justice, but serve as a tool for conducting political battles. The trial taking place in Belgium is an example of this." |
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