The Brussels N-VA wants the Vooruit party to replace Fouad Ahidar after condoning statements about Hamas

“We are shocked by Fouad Ahidar’s statements in which he called Hamas’ massacre of civilians a ‘small reaction’ and said that ‘the Israelis reap what they sow’. We believe that Mr Ahidar can no longer represent our Flemish community in Brussels as president of the Council and are asking for his replacement,” Brussels MPs Cieltje Van Achter, Gilles Verstraeten and Mathias Vanden Borre say in a joint statement.

“The Vooruit party distances itself from Mr Ahidar’s statements, but we also want to distance ourselves from them and cannot accept that he will continue to represent us as president. His statements are therefore diametrically opposed to the democratic norms and values that a president of our Council of the Flemish Community Commission of Brussels must promote,” say the MPs.

Not the first blunder

This is not his first blunder, by the way. In June last year, as part of the debate about the possible introduction of a ban on slaughter without sedation, Fouad Ahidar made the completely unscientific statement that he “could not believe that God would allow animals to suffer during slaughter without sedation”.