Brussels court refuses to order US ambassador Bill White expelled from Belgium

The Brussels summary proceedings judge (kortgedingrechter) ruled on Wednesday 28 October 2026 not to grant a demand that Belgium declare US ambassador Bill White persona non grata. Such a declaration would force a diplomat to leave the country. VRT NWS, Het Nieuwsblad and BRUZZ all report the refusal.

The demand came from Moshe Friedman, an activist from Antwerp. He asked the court to order Belgium to declare White persona non grata so that the ambassador would have to leave.

The court said such a measure falls under the executive power, meaning the government, and not under the courts. It said the requested step amounts to applying Article 9 of the Vienna Convention, which it called the most far-reaching diplomatic step that can be taken against a member of a diplomatic mission. Granting the demand, the court said, would override the executive's full decision-making power on the matter.

The judge also found that Friedman has no subjective right to request this measure. For that reason, the summary proceedings judge cannot impose it.

Background to the dispute

According to Friedman, White became a target after Friedman started a legal case against illegal Jewish circumcisions carried out in Belgium. Friedman's remarks were reported last week. He said White interfered in Belgium's legal order by saying the judiciary should not waste time investigating those circumcisions. "Bill White called me a liar, fraudster and swindler," Friedman said.

Separate criminal case

Friedman has also sued the US ambassador before the correctional court, the criminal court that handles offences. The complaint covers, among other things, threats, extortion, slander and stalking. That court is expected to issue an interlocutory judgment soon, an intermediate ruling, on Bill White's diplomatic immunity.