Two Israelis Released In Belgium After Temporary Detention On Charges Of Threatening Public Order

Faizan Hashmi Published July 21, 2025 | 11:00 PM

(UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 21st Jul, 2025) BRUSSELS, 21st July, 2025 (WAM) – Belgian authorities have said they briefly held and questioned two Israeli citizens who attended an electronic music festival last week, after pro-Palestinian groups accused them of war crimes.

Prosecutors said they had received legal complaints alleging that two Israeli soldiers responsible for “serious violations of international humanitarian law” in Gaza were spotted at the Tomorrowland festival near the northern city of Antwerp.

The complaints filed against the two individuals relate to allegations of a culture of violence and oppression, and the use of Israeli military symbols at the Tomorrowlan festival, where they raised the flag of the Givati Brigade, an Israeli infantry unit that participated in a large-scale incursion into Gaza, among the crowds gathered at the festival.

This was considered an act fueling conflicts and threatening public order, which prompted the competent Belgian authorities to take legal action against them.

The Federal prosecutor’s office said it had asked the police to locate the two people named in the complaint and to interview them. “Following these interviews, they were released,” it said in a statement.

The office said it had taken action after concluding that Belgian courts had extraterritorial jurisdiction over alleged war crimes.

The decision to question the two Israelis was based on an article in Belgium’s Code of Criminal Procedure that went into force last year and grants Belgian courts jurisdiction over acts overseas,'' the prosecution statement said.