Pod Save America Hosts Call on Democrats to Cut All Israel Military Aid, No Longer Accept AIPAC Funding
Jews, Israelis Targeted in Austria Amid Surge in Antisemitic Incidents; Local Jewish Community Calls for Action
‘All of Our Strength’: Over 1,000 Pro-Israel Activists Gather in DC for Solidarity Conference
‘Devastated’: Wesley LePatner, Killed in Manhattan Mass Shooting, Was a Jewish Communal, Philanthropic Leader
Sen. Angus King Vows to No Longer Vote for Israel Military Aid Until Gaza Conditions Improve
Europe Won’t Pressure Israel to ‘Commit Suicide’ Amid Gaza Backlash, Palestinian State Push, Says Israeli FM
Israel’s National Soccer Coach Attacked in Athens Before Soccer Fans Chant ‘F–K Israel, Free Palestine’ at Match
New York Judge Sentences Neo-Nazi to 5 Years for Livestreaming Bomb Threats Against Jewish Hospitals
US Pressures Lebanon to Issue Cabinet Decision to Disarm Hezbollah Before Talks Continue
UK Plans to Recognize Palestinian State in September Unless Israel Meets Conditions, Starmer Says
Belgium Wins Appeal Against Repatriation of Islamic State Families
Error: Contact form not found.
by Reuters and Algemeiner Staff
An Islamic State flag is pictured above a destroyed house near the Clock Square in Raqqa, Syria, Oct. 18, 2017. Photo: Reuters / Erik De Castro.
Belgium has won an appeal against a judge’s order forcing it to repatriate two Belgian women convicted of being Islamic State militants and their six children from Syria, a court said on Wednesday.
A judge ruled last year that the country had to bring back Tatiana Wielandt, 26, Bouchra Abouallal, 25, and the children they had with militants, from the Al-Hol camp where they were being held in a Kurdish-dominated part of Syria.
But the Belgian government sought to make a distinction between the mothers, who were convicted last year in absentia of being members of Islamic State, and the children who officials say cannot be guilty of acts committed by their parents.
The Brussels court of appeal said that the Belgian state was not forced “to undertake any act of repatriation.”
In response, the Belgian Justice Ministry said it would still seek to repatriate all children younger than 10 years old from Iraq and Syria, where European citizens, many of them babies, are being held in camps by US-backed Kurdish militias following the defeat of Islamic State by coalition forces.
It was not immediately clear how many of the six children were under 10 in the Belgian case.
European nations are wrestling with how to handle suspected militants and their families seeking to return from combat zones, an issue made more pressing by US plans to withdraw troops from Syria.
