Belgium: City of Verviers cuts ties with ‘Israel apartheid regime’

The Belgian city of Verviers has cut ties with the Israeli apartheid regime to “strengthen its support for the Palestinian people,” the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS) reported yesterday.

According to BDS, Verviers has joined a number of European cities that cut relations with the Israeli occupation state over its “apartheid regime”.

“Verviers follows the Belgian city of Liége, whose city council last month decided to end ties with Israel citing its regime of ‘apartheid, colonisation and military occupation,’” BDS shared in a statement.

It added: “In April, Oslo decided to exclude companies that directly or indirectly contribute to Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise, and in February, the mayor of Barcelona decided to suspend institutional ties with apartheid Israel. Elsewhere, the mayor of Belém, in Brazil, has recently declared the city an Apartheid Free Zone.”

“The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), the largest coalition in Palestinian society salutes this Verviers decision and applauds the tireless work of Belgian civil society that has made this possible.”

Concluding the statement, BDS urged: “We call on cities worldwide to follow the inspiring examples of Verviers, Liége, Oslo, Barcelona and Bélem by severing ties with apartheid Israel in support of the Palestinian struggle to #DismantleApartheid!”

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