Belgium–Israel relations are the bilateral relations between

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

and

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. Belgium voted in favor of the

United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine The United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine was a proposal by the United Nations to partition Mandatory Palestine at the end of the British Mandate. Drafted by the U.N. Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) on 3 September 1947, the Pl ...

in 1947 and recognized the State of Israel on January 15, 1950. Belgium has an embassy in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

, and Israel has an embassy in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. In February 2010, a plaque honoring

King Albert I Albert I (8 April 1875 – 17 February 1934) was King of the Belgians from 23 December 1909 until his death in 1934. He is popularly referred to as the Knight King (, ) or Soldier King (, ) in Belgium in reference to his role during World War I ...

, husband of

Elizabeth of Bavaria Elisabeth (born Duchess Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie in Bavaria; 24 December 1837 – 10 September 1898), nicknamed Sisi or Sissi, was Empress of Austria and List of Hungarian consorts, Queen of Hungary from her marriage to Franz Joseph I of Austri ...

, was unveiled at Albert Square in

in the presence of the Tel Aviv mayor

Ron Huldai Ron Huldai (; born 26 August 1944) is an Israeli politician and businessman who has been Mayor of Tel Aviv since 1998. Before taking office as mayor, Huldai served as a fighter pilot and commander in the Israeli Air Force. After leaving the ...

and Ambassador Bénédicte Frankinet.

State visits

King Albert visited Tel Aviv in 1933 and was hosted by

Meir Dizengoff Meir Dizengoff (; born Meer Yankelevich Dizengof, ); 25 February 1861 – 23 September 1936) was a Zionism, Zionist leader and politician and the founder and first Mayor of Tel Aviv, mayor of Tel Aviv (1911–1922 as head of town planning, 1922� ...

King Baudouin Baudouin (; 7 September 1930 – 31 July 1993) was King of the Belgians from 17 July 1951 until his death in 1993. He was the last Belgian king to be sovereign of the Congo, before it became independent in 1960 and became the Democratic Republi ...

and

Queen Fabiola Fabiola Fernanda María-de-las-Victorias Antonia Adelaida de Mora y Aragón (11 June 1928 – 5 December 2014) was List of Belgian consorts, Queen of the Belgians as the wife of King Baudouin from their marriage in 1960 until his death in 1993. ...

visited Israel in 1964.

History

In 1975, Belgium voted against the UN resolution equating

Zionism Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

with racism. It helped Israel establish informal ties with

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

and join the

Western European and Others Group The Group of Western European and Other States, also known as the Western European and Other States Group or WEOG, is one of the five United Nations regional groups. It is composed of 28 member states. Most of these are in Western Europe, but ...

at the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

. Many cultural, scientific and economic bilateral agreements have been signed, and a number of Belgium-Israel friendship associations have been established. The faculty club and guesthouse of

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

, known as ''Beit Belgia'', was built with the financial aid of the Belgian Friends of the Hebrew University. In 2009, Israeli exports to Belgium reached $2.37 billion, while imports from Belgium totalled $2.56 billion. In 2010, trade increased by approximately 50%. In March 2010, Israel and Belgium signed a new

tax treaty A tax treaty, also called double tax agreement (DTA) or double tax avoidance agreement (DTAA), is an agreement between two countries to avoid or mitigate double taxation. Such treaties may cover a range of taxes including income taxes, inheritanc ...

agreement to improve the competitiveness of Israeli companies operating in Belgium and encourage Belgian investment in Israel. In October 2023, during the

Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...

, Belgian Prime Minister

Alexander De Croo Alexander De Croo (; born 3 November 1975) is a Belgian politician and businessman who served as Prime Minister of Belgium from 2020 to 2025. Previously from 2012 to 2020, De Croo served as deputy prime minister in the governments of Elio Di Rup ...

strongly condemned the atrocities committed by Hamas, and supported Israel's right to defend itself, but later deemed the destruction of Gaza "unacceptable", and called on Israel to respect international humanitarian law during its military operations. Following a meeting with Egyptian President

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil El-Sisi (born 19 November 1954) is an Egyptian politician and retired military officer who has been serving as the sixth and current president of Egypt since 2014. After the 2011 Egyptian revolution and 201 ...

in November, De Croo held a joint press conference at the

Rafah border crossing The Rafah Border Crossing () or Rafah Crossing Point is the sole crossing point between Egypt and Palestine's Gaza Strip. The Rafah crossing was opened by Israel after the Egypt–Israel peace treaty, 1979 peace treaty and remained under Isra ...

along with Spanish Prime Minister

Pedro Sánchez Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón (; born 29 February 1972) is a Spanish politician who has served as Prime Minister of Spain since 2018. He has also been Secretary-General of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) since July 2017, having p ...

. During the conference, both European leaders said in a joint statement that the "indiscriminate killings of innocent civilians" in Gaza are "completely unacceptable." In a joint statement, they emphasized that the time had come for the

international community The international community is a term used in geopolitics and international relations to refer to a broad group of people and governments of the world. Usage Aside from its use as a general descriptor, the term is typically used to imply the ...

and the European Union (EU) to once and for all recognize a

Palestinian State Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, collectively known as th ...

and called for a permanent ceasefire in the war-battered territory. Israel lashed out at the two prime ministers "for not placing full responsibility for the crimes against humanity committed by Hamas, who massacred our citizens and used the Palestinians as human shields." Israeli Foreign Minister

Eli Cohen Eliyahu Ben-Shaul Cohen (‎; ‎; 26 December 1924 – 18 May 1965) was an Egyptian-born Israeli spy. He is best known for his espionage work in Syria between 1961 and 1965, where he developed close relationships with the Syrian poli ...

instructed the countries' ambassadors to be summoned for a sharp reprimand, saying "We condemn the false claims of the prime ministers of Spain and Belgium who give support to terrorism." Belgium, along with Spain, Canada, the Netherlands and Japan, have all announced that they will stop sending weapons to Israel.

Trade

Israel and Belgium trade is also influenced by the EU - Israel Free Trade Agreement from 1995.

Resident diplomatic missions

* Belgium has an embassy in

. * Israel has an embassy in

References

External links

Belgian embassy in Tel Aviv

Israeli embassy in Brussels
{{DEFAULTSORT:Belgium-Israel relations

Bilateral relations of Israel