Members from PVDA and Vooruit Antwerp demand Israeli flag be taken down from City Hall
Members from PVDA and Vooruit Antwerp are calling for the immediate removal of the Israeli flag from city hall, denouncing its presence as unacceptable amid the war in Gaza.
PVDA and councillors from Vooruit argue that flying the flag at this moment sends the wrong message, accusing the city of double standards given the continued absence of the Russian flag. “You just can’t explain this,” said PVDA councillor Peter Mertens. “The Israeli regime is sowing death and destruction in Gaza. To let the flag under which all these crimes are committed fly happily at city hall is extremely problematic.”
English translation: "N-VA-Forward city council: WHERE IS YOUR RED LINE? As if there is no genocide, as if there is no ethnic cleansing, as if there are no starvation of children, as if there aren't statements from the United Nations, the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, as if everything is "normal",... The Israeli flag will be hoisted today at the Antwerp City Hall. #haaldievlagweg (the flag of Russia was long ago removed by the city council; two sizes and two weights)".
Tradition and removal of Russian flag
As is tradition, the city raised a series of national flags at the start of the tourist high season this week. Each year from mid-June to mid-September, Antwerp decorates the facade of its historic city hall with the flags of EU member states, countries with consulates in the city or province, the United Nations and the ten Antwerp districts, including Borsbeek, which appears for the first time this year.
The Israeli flag has been included for years because of the consulate’s presence in Antwerp, but Mertens insists that current events make its inclusion indefensible. “That country is guilty of genocide in Gaza,” he said. “The flag of a country that tramples on international law and human rights should not be flying at the Schoon Verdiep.”
He also pointed to the city’s refusal to fly the Russian flag since 2022, despite Russia also having a consulate in Antwerp until recently. “The city council is hypocritical,” said Mertens.
The city responded by clarifying that the Russian consulate is currently closed and diplomatic ties are suspended. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Antwerp froze its sister-city relationship with St. Petersburg and excluded Russian ships from events like the Tall Ship Races. The Russian flag has not flown at city hall since then.
“The countries of the European Union and countries with a consulate in the city will receive a flag. That is stated in the protocol of the city,” said Liesbeth De Maeyer, spokesperson for the city of Antwerp.
“There is no protocol that can excuse the suffering of thousands"
Still, criticism continues to mount, even from within the city’s ruling coalition. Vooruit councillor and federal MP Kathleen Van Brempt issued a rare public rebuke of the city’s decision: “There is no protocol that can excuse the suffering of thousands,” she wrote on Instagram. “Raising the flag today of the country whose government is guilty of genocidal acts is indefensible. We completely distance ourselves and will raise this issue within the administration.”
Mertens also denounced Vooruit’s broader approach. “Vooruit Antwerp will also soon join the action to draw a red line,” he said. “They would do better to draw a red line against the raising of this flag.” He refers to the ongoing protests of symbolically drawing or painting a red line in various cities and municipalities in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
He warned that the symbolism could further inflame tensions in the city. “We are in a tense situation here in Antwerp,” he said. “This kind of symbolism only makes it worse.”
The city council declined to comment further.
#FlandersNewsService | © Flags on the City Hall of Antwerp to celebrate the Flemish Feast (Vlaanderen Feest), Thursday 11 July 2002. © BELGA PHOTO WIM HENDRIX
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