Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
Challenge Airlines has filed an appeal against the royal decree issued on June 4 by Federal Transport Minister Georges Gilkinet, and against the Walloon decision "the Walloon government" that prohibits the transfer of weapons to Israel. "The fact that Challenge Airlines has filed an appeal seems to indicate that the transfer of weapons and war materials to Israel was indeed part of the activities at Charleroi Airport," wrote the L'Echo newspaper. Challenge Airlines is the Belgian division of an Israeli aviation group, the parent company of which is headquartered in Malta. The group did not provide any comment to L'Echo, the newspaper added. "The applicable international law formally prohibits the Belgian state from authorizing the transfer of weapons if it knows that the weapons could be used for genocide, crimes against humanity or attacks on civilians," Benjamin Bergers, spokesman for the Minister of Transport, Gilkinet, was quoted as saying by the Flemish-language Nieuwsblad website. "The International Criminal Court in The Hague recognized this situation in Gaza, in a decision issued in May 2024, and ordered Israel to immediately stop its military offensive. The Belgian state must therefore prohibit any transfer of weapons to Israel and take concrete measures to ensure the effectiveness of this prohibition," the spokesman added.