Belgian Environment Minister Zakia Khattabi (Ecolo) has walked back her highly controversial refusal to label Hamas, the armed group which controls the Gaza Strip, a terrorist organisation.
On Monday morning, Khattabi told the TV station LN24 that although she "condemned without equivocation" the Islamist group's "barbaric and terrorist acts" in Israel on 7 October, legal qualms prevented her from labelling Hamas a terrorist organisation.
"I don't use this term because it has a legal meaning that I don't know, but I have no problem calling the Hamas attacks terrorist acts of condemnable barbarism," she said.
Khattabi's remarks were immediately denounced by Belgium's opposition parties as well as by Ecolo's fellow "Vivaldi" coalition partners.
Theo Francken, a federal Minister from the right-wing Flemish opposition party N-VA, urged Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (Open VLD) to dismiss Khattabi from his cabinet.
Kahttabi is een lid van de Belgische regering.
Kan uw minister aanblijven @alexanderdecroo ? https://t.co/jEDIxBVXc5 — Theo Francken MP (@FranckenTheo) November 6, 2023
"Kahttabi [sic] is a member of the Belgian government," Francken wrote on X (formerly Twitter). "Can your minister stay @alexanderdecroo?"
Similarly, Georges-Louis Bouchez, the leader francophone liberal party MR – which also serves as one of Ecolo's coalition partners – claimed that "it is unacceptable for a federal minister to hide behind any such legal consideration". He also pointed out that Hamas has been classified as a terrorist organisation by the EU since 2001.
Khattabi also faced thinly veiled criticism from her own party. "Hamas is a terrorist organisation [and] recognised as such by the Council of the European Union," an Ecolo spokesperson told Sudinfo. "And our leading parliamentarians have always been unambiguous on this subject."
'There is no ambiguity'
Following the uproar, Khattabi took to social media to renounce her comments.
"The subject is too serious to make a controversy out of it, I unambiguously condemned the acts of 7/10 as a terrorist attack, on the qualification I said exactly: I do not know the legal qualification," she wrote on X on Monday afternoon.
"Since it exists, clear alignment with this," she added, linking to a European Court of Justice ruling which upheld the European Council's decision to place Hamas on the list of European terrorist organisations.
Le sujet est trop grave pour en faire une polémique, ai condamné sans ambiguïté les actes du 7/10 comme attentat terroriste, sur la qualification ai dit exactement : je ne connais pas la qualification juridique. Dès lors qu’elle existe, alignement clair sur celle-ci ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/EnL2KDcVlb
— Zakia Khattabi (@KhattabiZakia) November 6, 2023
Contacted by Sudinfo, Khattabi elaborated: "There is no ambiguity. When I was asked the question [regarding whether Hamas is terrorist group], I did not know that Hamas was on a list of the European Union. In fact, this is a position of the European Council, the Heads of State of the European Union, who have declared that Hamas is indeed a terrorist organisation."
She added: "I am obviously aligned with the European Council. I regret this controversy. Throughout this interview, I have constantly condemned Hamas."
However, Khattabi's retraction failed to satisfy many of her critics, with Bouchez claiming that the Minister was still engaging in legal obfuscation.
.@KhattabiZakia n’a toujours pas dit à cette heure que le Hamas est une organisation terroriste. Elle se contente de dire qu’elle s’aligne sur des textes européens. La Ministre va t’elle continuer longtemps à se moquer du monde à des fins électoralistes ? Réalise t’on les…
— Georges-L BOUCHEZ (@GLBouchez) November 6, 2023
"@KhattabiZakia has still not said at this time that Hamas is a terrorist organisation," Bouchez wrote. "She simply says that she aligns herself with European texts. Will the Minister continue to make fun of the world for electoral purposes for so long? Do we realise the consequences?"
