In Belgium you can: Ghent bans trade with all Israeli companies complicit in the occupation

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When Laura Schuytsmans, Green Party councillor in Ghent, speaks about the city's procurement policy and trade in Israeli products and those from illegal settlements in West Bank e Jerusalem It is argued that the adoption of a “settlement trade ban” is the most effective way to make Ghent a city that applies the fundamental principles of human rights and international law.

“What we have adopted is entirely framed within the perspective of a human rights-based procurement policy,” he explains. “The same logic that we apply to the stones we use for our pavements, which we only buy from suppliers certified as free of child labour. We want to do the same with food products, and pharmaceuticals, everything that we purchase: within this framework, products originating from Israeli settlements illegal in the West Bank and East Jerusalem simply do not pass.”

The press immediately called it a boycott. Ghent did not deny it. But on its own channels, the city uses only one term: commercial ban on settlements. The framing makes a political difference, but what matters here is the legal outcome.

Gand's first move dates back to November 2023, when the City Council declared that human rights must be at the core of all procurements. The local government was tasked with developing a concrete clause to give real weight to this declaration. When Schuyesmans was elected in 2024, she found the clause not impactful enough. In September 2025, the City Council approved a new, much stricter one. Indeed, Gand does not merely exclude products from illegal settlements. The scope is extended to all Israeli companies that profit from the occupation, including businesses within Israel that invest in settlements or participate in other forms of economic involvement with the occupation and genocide. “It's a ban on all Israeli companies that profit from and are complicit in the occupation,” says Laura.

This distinction is fundamental, decisive. It limits the practice that fills our markets with products crossing EU borders: not only those originating from illegal settlements in occupied Palestine, but all goods outside the occupied territories whose production chain or investment portfolio remains linked to them. It also bases policies adopted not on geography, but on complicity, which is where international humanitarian law is increasingly heading.

The challenge of verification

Putting these decisions into practice is no easy task, and Schuyesmans does not downplay the complexities. Products from the settlements entering Belgium first pass through Israeli customs, and product codes may be obscured or altered by intermediary companies. “I wouldn’t say that the city of Ghent is 100% safe, or even 99% safe, nor that we no longer have any problems,” he admits, “but we are doing our best with a range of organisations and partners.” It is a question of political will.

What Gand has built is a multi-layered verification system. The city works with lists of barcodes and product codes that identify Palestinian-origin goods, which are actively promoted and prioritised, while codes associated with “flagged-zones” are treated as such, and investigated on a case-by-case basis. An in-house legal team continually monitors suppliers. Palestinian experts with detailed knowledge of Israeli companies and firms, participate directly in the process for the verification of origins and complicity. UN databases of involved companies are consulted. Because they exist and are accessible to everyone. And the city maintains an open dialogue with suppliers: to schools, hospitals and Ghent's public institutions, they are asked to prove that the supply chain complies with the prohibition of child labour, products from settlements, and fair trade violations. If these criteria cannot be proven or applied, the city looks for an alternative. The complexities are evident: there are products used by the police or thousands of public officials, and finding an alternative takes time and effort; during this time, the different sectors involved cannot be left without.

Four sectors are considered high-risk and are rigorously monitored: food, pharmaceuticals, IT, and transport. Companies are not simply blacklisted (or green-listed) and forgotten. Monitoring is continuous, as ownership structures change. Laura cites the example of a fair-trade textile supplier acquired by an Israeli company, which neither the city nor the supplier had foreseen. “Ownership can change, sometimes without the supplier being entirely aware.” Russian dolls, but ones that can be opened.

A framework for fair, sustainable and inclusive procurement for all

Perhaps the most transferable insight from Gand's approach is precisely the fact that the settlements clause is not standalone, in its own right. It is embedded within the city's already existing framework for fair, sustainable and solidarity-based procurement: the city organises fair clothing sessions for hospital staff, construction materials free from child labour, and circular economy standards.

Oxfam, where Schuyesmans works full-time as Campaigner for Rights in Crisis, plays a fundamental supporting role: it prepares toolkits for municipalities, organises training for municipal procurement officers and participates in the advisory committee that directly informs procurement decisions. The effect is to normalise the clause on settlements, making it an application of already operational principles, rather than an act Politician exceptional, which could lead to legal disputes.

The right-wing parties on the council (N-VA and Vlaams Belang, ed.) were the ones to raise legal concerns and vote against the measure. The liberals in the coalition were initially hesitant but were convinced precisely because of this framing: this is not about a boycott, but about applying international law and human rights to public procurement and purchasing policies.

International law exists: let's use it

When procurement managers or suppliers contest the measure, Schuyesmans's response is direct: “Here is the law.” The illegal status of Israeli settlements under international law, repeatedly confirmed by the International Court of Justice and reiterated in UN resolutions, is not a political position but a legal fact. Ghent is not expressing a moral judgment; it is applying existing international humanitarian law to its own contractual decisions. EU regulations themselves already require products from settlements to be labelled distinctly from Israeli goods when sold to consumers. Ghent is simply taking this existing legal distinction and applying it to its own supply chain, then extending it to companies whose economic involvement goes beyond the settlements themselves.

From Ghent to a national ban

What was adopted by the Ghent City Council spread like wildfire. The city of Liège followed. Then Mons. Then other cities in Flanders and Wallonia. Cities that have not yet acted in this direction are contacting Ghent to request documentation, being cautious to see if legal battles emerge before committing. When they don't emerge, Laura says, the message is clear: “This is our moment.” The mayor of Ghent, who chairs the Network Eurocities, a platform connecting over 200 European cities, has also presented the clause at informal occasions to the various EU municipalities that are part of the network, with concrete examples on its implementation and hosting visits from municipal delegations wishing to observe the procurement mechanisms firsthand. The most significant development, however, could be at the national level. Belgium appears to be heading towards an official ban on settlement products at a national level which, considering the current political composition of the federal government, Laura considers potentially transformative. “If Belgium does it, and everyone knows we have a rather right-wing prime minister, I think it could have a domino effect in other EU countries.”

Structural work

The trade ban on settlements is, Schuyesmans insists, precisely the sort of concrete structural measure that complements street protests without replacing them. It is less visible than a demonstration, less noticeable in the news cycle. But it transforms supply chains, puts pressure on suppliers, establishes replicable legal models and, above all, enshrines the ending of complicity as a standard function of city government, rather than as a radical exception. “It’s less high-profile. But it really does make a difference.”

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PHOTO CREDITS: Lucio Arisci