The Belgian city council of Molenbeek voted to exclude businesses active in the Israeli occupation of Palestine in its bid for surveillance cameras, reports the Workers’ Party of Belgium (PTB).On November 26 the city council, located in the Brusself capital region of Belgium, conducted a meeting to decide upon terms of the € 1.8 million bid for new security cameras. During the meeting council member Dirk De Block (PTB) introduced an amendment to the bid: no business active in the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territory or in unethical conduct would be allowed to compete. When tabling the amendment, De Block noted that the Israeli security company Radwin, together with its Belgian counterpart Blue Vision, had a large share of municipal and cities markets for the installation of sophisticated surveillance camera networks.
The mayor argued against this amendment, and it was anticipated that the councilors would follow her instructions and vote against her. To her surprise, however, a majority voted in favour of the amendment.
City council Chairman Michel Eylenbosch then argued that the councilors “misunderstood”, and called for another vote, a call that was roundly rejected as an attempt to vote until the mayor’s desired outcome was reached.
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