In a video posted to Zinneke.tv’s YouTube channel on November 5, Ahidar compared Israel’s actions to the genocide of Jews during World War II. Later in the conversation, he called the terrorist attack of October 7 “a small reaction from part of Hamas” and he also said he regretted that “unfortunately the world only focuses on that part.”
His party Vooruit distanced itself from the statements and the Brussels majority and opposition were also not kind to the MP. The opposition in the Council of the Flemish Community Commission (VGC) even announced on Thursday that Ahidar cannot continue as chairman of the Council for them.
“Anyone who knows me knows that I have been standing up for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to a dignified existence and their own state for years. (…) Everyone also knows that it makes me emotional. I don’t always express myself well and I understand that my words have had a heavy impact and have led to conclusions that I never intended,” Ahidar said on Thursday.
The Vooruit MP adds that the Holocaust, due to its “exceptional and inhuman nature, cannot be compared to the fate of the Palestinian people over the past 75 years.” I did not want to make that comparison and my choice of words made it wrong.”
He also says that “at no time” did he intend to minimize Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israeli civilians, “and I unequivocally condemn this terrorist attack,” Ahidar added. “Finally, I regret that my words have led to unnecessary polemic and I apologize for that.”
LOOK. Thus, Hamas launched the bloody attack against Israel on October 7
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Tags: Vooruit Fouad Ahidar apologizes calling Hamas massacre small reaction Domestic
