2023-10-31 12:26:00
The charter of democracy is this document signed a first time in the 90s and a second time on May 8, 2022 – after a debate on Flemish television between Bouchez and his counterpart from Vlaams Belang – by the presidents of the PS, MR, of Ecolo, Committed and Challenge but not by that of the PTB. This charter guarantees that the signatories will refuse any political alliance with a party conveying far-right ideas, the use of violence, and incitement to hatred and racism.
Georges-Louis Bouchez (MR) to La Libre: “There is a communitarian struggle between the PS, Ecolo and the PTB, they are exploiting the Muslim electorate”
The PTB red line
By calling Israel “terrorist”, Hedebouw has, according to Bouchez, crossed the red line which now places the radical left party in the extremist camp. “We have made a commitment to never collaborate with a group or a movement making proposals justifying the use of violence, which constitutes a clear attack on the democratic principles which underpin our political system. These statements are the expression, within the meaning of the Charter, of hate speech which, under the guise of anti-Zionism, reflects a certain form of anti-Semitism. These words do not constitute opinions but rather offenses that must be denounced and condemned.”
Georges-Louis Bouchez on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: “There is a condemnation of variable geometry which is deeply scandalous”
Has Hedebouw crossed this famous red line? Should the other parties therefore apply to the PTB, the cordon santé that they apply to the extreme right when there is one in the south of the country and in Brussels?
For UCLouvain political scientist Pierre Vercauteren, we must remain cautious. “We are in a gray area in terms of the values defended in the charter. Did the PTB want to distinguish itself from others by precisely specifying that the situation between Israel and Palestine was not as clear as what others say? Isn’t the MR following an identical strategy? We can wonder if on the part of the PTB and the MR, in the current electoral context, there is not an attempt to exploit the conflict.”
The political scientist sees in the leader of the two party presidents, “a strategy of transgression”. “If we are to believe the polls, the MR should not worry too much about the next election. However, he sits within Vivaldi, a government with seven parties and it is therefore necessary for him too to stand out.”
The PS asks for nuance from its elected officials
Other facts affecting members of the PS have also aroused the ire of the president of the MR in recent days. There are the comments of André Flahaut who compared the Gaza Strip to the Warsaw ghetto. There is also the drawing shared on social networks by the boss of Solidaris, Jean-Pascal Labille and which equates Israel with the Nazi regime. The main person concerned withdrew his post and apologized, however, Georges-Louis Bouchez demanded his resignation from the socialist mutuality.
Viviane Teitelbaum (MR) will file a complaint for negationism against Jean-Pascal Labille (Solidaris): “He endangers the Belgian Jewish population”
For Pierre Vercauteren, we are once again in the same register. He also specifies that “It affects affect”. “We are playing the emotional card in this matter. There was a first emotion at the time of the Hamas attack and a second during the Israeli responses.”
These ways of doing things constitute a problem for our interlocutor. “I’m not sure it’s the best thing to do at a time when emotions are so strong. Taking a step back is certainly better than caricature,” he concludes.
Contacted, the PS HQ, although it is outraged by the fact that the PTB does not recognize the terrorist character of Hamas, considers that “the sanitary cordon must be used for the purposes for which it was designed.” “If Mr. Bouchez wants to demonstrate that the PTB, through the comments it made, contravenes the law, it is entirely open to him to attack it before the courts.”
As for the expressions of elected socialist representatives, the party believes that “the only expression which commits the PS is that of its Office and its president”. But we also specify that “direct or indirect comparisons with the Shoah and the Second World War only add confusion and brutality to the debates even though we need rigor and nuance more than ever ”. The party calls on “all those who represent it in assemblies to stick to the statements agreed jointly after a long debate at the party office”.
The spokesperson concludes that “the PS has always defended the Palestinian cause and condemned anti-Semitism with the greatest rigor. We will continue to do so, despite a context of escalation and odious political recovery”.
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