Belgium vows to recognize State of Palestine, impose sanctions on Israel

Agencies

September 2, 2025

Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Prevot has announced that the Western European country will recognize the State of Palestine at the forthcoming United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) later this month and impose sanctions on Israel.

“Palestine will be recognized by Belgium at the UN session! And firm sanctions will be imposed against Israel,” Prevot, who is also the deputy prime minister, wrote in a post on X on Tuesday.

Prevot added that Belgium will impose a round of 12 “firm” sanctions against Israel, including a ban on the import of products from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and “a review of public procurement policies with Israeli companies.”

He noted that the move is “in light of the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in Palestine, particularly in Gaza.”

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates welcomed Belgium’s decision to recognize Palestinian statehood in the upcoming UN meeting.

In a statement on X, the ministry said it considered the move “to be in line with international law and United Nations resolutions,” protective of the state of Palestine, and “supportive of achieving peace.”

It called on other countries to “quickly” follow suit, “to intensify practical efforts to stop the crimes of genocide, displacement, starvation, and annexation, and to open a real political path to resolve the conflict.”

Australia, Canada, France, and Britain have announced plans to recognize Palestine during the UN General Assembly meetings later this month, joining nearly 150 countries that already have.

The United States said on Friday it would bar Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas from traveling to New York for the UN General Assembly.

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CPI-M ready to ally with Congress in 2026 West Bengal polls to 'defeat' TMC, BJP

News Network

January 19,2026

New Delhi: Setting speculation to the rest, the CPI(M) has made it clear that it is open to have an electoral understanding with the Congress “to defeat” the Trinamool Congress and the BJP in West Bengal Assembly election even as it is all set to take on the grand old party in Kerala accusing it of “found wanting” in fighting the Hindutva forces.

The CPI(M) also said that it will contest the Tamil Nadu election “with DMK and its allies to defeat the BJP and its allies”, amid a section in the Congress triggering confusion about its participation in the M K Stalin-led coalition over demand over power-sharing and more seats. It is also willing to join hands with Congress and others in Assam and Puducherry to defeat the BJP.

The decisions came at a three-day meeting of the CPI(M) Central Committee in Thiruvananthapuram, which ended on Sunday after reviewing the poll preparations in the poll-bound states.

The CPI(M)'s decision came even as a section led by West Bengal Congress president Subhankar Sarkar is averse to tying up with the Left Front, claiming that their party is not benefitted by the electoral understanding. Both Congress and CPI(M)-led Left Front had electoral understanding in 2016 and 2021 Assembly elections and 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Congress and the Left Front fought together for the first time in 2016 when Congress won 44 seats and the CPI(M) got 26. In 2021, the Left Front and the Congress drew a blank. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Congress managed to win one seat while the Left did not win any. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, both fought against each other with Congress winning two and the Left none.

“In Bengal, the party will work for the defeat of both the TMC and the BJP, which are trying to polarise the society. We will try to rally all the forces that are ready to work against them,” the CPI(M) said in a statement without naming Congress by name. Senior leaders said there is no change in its strategy of pooling all non-BJP, non-TMC votes.

However, the party was critical of the Congress in Kerala where both will fight against each other.

The CPI(M) said it would "expose the BJP-led Union government’s denial of rightful dues to Kerala, the fiscal constraints imposed and the overall attack on federalism" as also "expose the failure of the Congress to effectively counter this attack on federalism, as the largest opposition party in the Parliament".

"The Congress, especially in Kerala, was found wanting in the fight against communal RSS-BJP, ideologically and this will also be exposed before the people," it added.

In Assam, it said, the CPI(M) will work for the mobilisation of all the anti-BJP parties and forces and defeat the rabidly communal and divisive BJP government. The Left parties are cooperating with Congress in the north-eastern state. In Puducherry, it said it will work for the defeat of the BJP alliance government.

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