The diplomat, Bill White, was then asked to meet with the Belgian foreign minister at a time of rising tensions between the U.S. and countries in Europe.
Bill White, the U.S. ambassador to Belgium, is expected to meet on Tuesday with Belgian officials over his social media posts. Credit…
Belgium’s government summoned President Trump’s ambassador after he accused his host nation of antisemitism and criticized a Belgian official in a series of posts on social media.
The expected meeting on Tuesday between the ambassador, Bill White, and Belgian officials comes at a moment of heightened tension as the Trump administration paints governments across Europe as out of line with American values.
But while the criticism is typically about Europe’s liberality or its constraints on freedom of speech, this incident centers on its treatment of three religious figures. Mr. White criticized Belgium on Monday on social media over an investigation in Antwerp into whether three Jewish mohels who perform ritual circumcision are carrying out procedures without medical training.
Mr. White wrote on X that Belgium should drop what he called a “RIDICULOUS AND ANTI-SEMITIC ‘PROSECUTION.’” He tagged Mr. Trump, the American vice president, and the secretary of state, among others.
“You must make a legal provision to allow Jewish religious MOHELS to perform their duties here in Belgium,” Mr. White added, addressing the Belgian health minister.
The Antwerp public prosecutor’s office put out a news release about the case in May and confirmed on Tuesday that the investigation was continuing. Kristof Aerts, a representative for the office, did not elaborate but noted that there were no “ongoing prosecutions.”
Maxime Prévot, Belgium’s foreign minister, responded at length to Mr. White on X, saying that “personal attacks against a Belgian minister and interference in judicial matters violate basic diplomatic norms” and that he had summoned Mr. White for a meeting.
“Any suggestion that Belgium is antisemitic is false, offensive, and unacceptable,” Mr. Prévot wrote in the post on Monday evening.
Mr. Prévot’s office confirmed that he and Mr. White were set to meet on Tuesday at 2 p.m. along with Theodora Gentzis, the secretary general of the Belgian foreign ministry.
By Tuesday morning, Gideon Sa’ar, the Israeli foreign minister, had also weighed in on social media.
“I understand that the mirror Ambassador @BillWhiteUSA has held up to you is unpleasant, but one might want to take this opportunity to take a hard look in that mirror and acknowledge reality,” he wrote.
Mr. White did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
