Belgium has withdrawn the refugee status of a well -known Palestinian activist. Mohammed Khatib, the European coordinator of the Pro-Palestinian organization Samidoun, has been told that, according to Belgian media, the National Immigration Service, the Commissioner General for Refugees and the Stateless (CGVS).
Mohammed Khatib, who grew up in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, had a refugee status in Belgium since 2015. The reason for the withdrawal was not announced, but according to the newspaper The standard The authorities point out his activities for Samidoun.
Khatib was in the news in the Netherlands in October 2024. He would speak at a meeting at Radboud University in Nijmegen, but the government imposed an entry ban on him. Minister of Justice David van Weel (Justice, VVD) and his then colleague of Asylum, Marjolein Faber (PVV), wrote that his arrival was “very undesirable”. “There is absolutely no place in the Netherlands for sowing hatred and glorifying violence.” He was eventually present through a live stream. Among other things, he said: “If we say ‘Free Palestine, from the River to the Sea’ Then we mean that we want a fair society, where everyone can live with each other in justice and peace. ” In May last year there was no fuss when he was a guest at a meeting in Nijmegen.
Sympathy for Hamas
Mohammed Khatib openly expressed his sympathy for Hamas, which is on the terror list in the EU. According to him, Hamas’ attack on the “Zionist” Israel was justified because it is a “colonial power” against which reinforced resistance is legitimate.
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Samidoun, which is committed to Palestinian prisoners, has been prohibited in Germany since 2023 because it would spread anti -Semitism and glorify terror. The organization is not prohibited in the Netherlands and Belgium. Samidoun is associated with the popular front for the liberation of Palestine (PFLP) by intelligence services. The PFLP is on the European terrorist list and is prohibited in the Netherlands.
Bill
The Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever recently suggested a ban on Samidoun. Just before the summer recess, the Belgian parliament adopted a bill to be able to prohibit radical and terrorist organizations on the basis of reports of the intelligence services or the police. De Wever mentioned Samidoun as an example. “Organizations such as Samidoun glorify terrorist organizations and their atrocities, but we never watch in the act of calling for violence.”
Khatib said that it would be a possible prohibition of Samidoun at the Constitutional Court in Belgium. He now announces that he would appeal against the decision to withdraw his refugee status.