Belgium refuses to renew passport of Israeli citizen living in Jerusalem area beyond Green Line |
An Israeli citizen said Tuesday that the Belgian consulate denied her request to renew her long-held Belgian passport because she lives in the Pisgat Zeev neighborhood of Jerusalem, located beyond the Green Line.
Annabelle Herciger-Tenzer told Channel 12 news that after submitting the request, she received the following response from the consulate: “After reviewing our population registry records, we found that you reside in a settlement that is not recognized under international law, to which Belgium is committed. Therefore, it was not possible to register you at this address in the population registry of the Belgian consulate in Jerusalem. Accordingly, we hereby inform you that you are no longer registered with this mission.”
“The feeling was simply like being slapped in the face,” Herciger-Tenzer, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, who immigrated to Israel from Belgium in 1980, told the Hebrew network.
“I’ve been living in Pisgat Zeev for more than 20 years…suddenly, this emotional homeland is rejecting me. And for what? Not because, God forbid, I committed a crime, but because I live in Jerusalem,” she added.
Pisgat Zeev — Jerusalem’s largest residential neighborhood, home to some 50,000 people – falls........