The men are under investigation for allegedly carrying out circumcisions without involving a medical professional; an obligation under Belgian law.
White’s explosive intervention came shortly after Trump’s Polish ambassador sparked a feud with the government in Warsaw, and right before the American envoy to France, Charles Kushner, was summoned by the French government over the U.S. administration’s public comments about the death of a far-right activist after a fight in Lyon.
The Belgian clash deepened further when White demanded that Conner Rousseau — leader of Flemish socialist party Vooruit — retract an Instagram video in which he compared U.S. President Donald Trump and ICE officers with Hitler. White declared that Rousseau would officially be banned entry to the U.S. over the video.
The Foreign Ministry’s message Tuesday was conciliatory. “The current U.S. administration is not comparable to the Nazi regime. When a comparison is made with Nazism, productive debate ends,” its message read. It also said Prévot had confirmed that the Belgian government is committed to “combating all forms of antisemitism.”
But the ministry also insisted that Belgium’s “judiciary is independent and impartial in Belgium, and that therefore its action cannot suffer from political or diplomatic interference,” and rejected “comments personally targeting Belgian politicians.”
The U.S. ambassador has indicated that he’ll lift “the idea of travel restrictions” on Rousseau, the ministry also said.
Upon leaving Tuesday’s meeting, the ambassador didn’t answer questions from Belgian media about the backlash against his comments. But he told broadcaster VRT that, “We had a great conversation … We are back on track.”
