US ambassadors in both Belgium and France have been summoned by their host governments over pointed criticisms and perceived interference in domestic affairs.
The incidents highlight growing strains under the current US administration’s outspoken diplomatic approach.
In Belgium, the row centres on US Ambassador Bill White’s vocal defence of Jewish religious practices amid an investigation in Antwerp.
A parallel diplomatic spat has erupted in France, where US Ambassador Charles Kushner faces being summoned over comments linked to the death of right-wing activist Quentin Deranque.
In Belgium, three Jewish mohels (ritual circumcisers) face scrutiny for allegedly performing circumcisions without required medical oversight or qualifications.
There is particular scrutiny over the practice of oral suction where the mohel sucks the blood away from the newly circumcised penis with his mouth.
This still happens within some orthodox families. While they claim to use disinfectants and say there are no more infections than with more conventional techniques, not everyone in Belgium was convinced and an investigation into the ritual was started.
White labelled the probe “ridiculous and antisemitic” in a lengthy post on X, directly calling out socialist health minister Frank Vandenbroucke as “very rude” and urging him to intervene or push for legislative changes to protect such rituals, as practised in “all civilised countries”.
White further demanded that the Belgian Government condemn remarks by Flemish socialist leader Conner Rousseau (Vooruit), reportedly threatening him with a US travel ban.
Belgium’s foreign minister Maxime Prévot summoned White to explain the accusations of anti-Semitism levelled at officials and the judiciary.
White attended the meeting but played down its significance.
Belgian officials, including Rousseau, rejected the interference, insisting the probe concerns public health and legal compliance rather than religious bias.
Jewish community leaders in Antwerp have described police actions as traumatic, warning of broader implications for religious freedom.
The matter escalated further after a video on social media from Rousseau re-appeared, comparing US President Donald Trump with Adolf Hitler. It also attacked the policies of the US administration, claiming it “arrested innocent five-year-olds” and “executed nurses who work day and night to take care of people”.
Rousseau said the US was “reliving history” with “extreme-right policies”.
This infuriated the US ambassador who demanded a retraction.
“The United States of America has kindly asked Conner, as I have also done personally, to consider retracting his gross statement comparing The President of the United States to somone who murdered millions of Jews in the Holocaust.
We believe this is unacceptable and… https://t.co/NJrmXCWTO2
— Ambassador Bill White (@BillWhiteUSA) February 21, 2026
Rousseau said White was lashing out.
“All I can say is that we in Belgium have the right – and, in my opinion, the political duty – to express our concerns about what is happening in America,” he told the public broadcaster VRT.
“I respect the ambassador’s opinion, but I also ask for respect for our opinion and that of many Belgians.”
He was joined by most politicians, who said that the investigation into oral suction was a sovereign matter. Some dissidents, though, such as the liberal Reformist Movement party leader Georges-Louis Bouchez, stressed there was a problem with rising anti-Semitism.
White indicated that Rousseau was no longer welcome to travel to the US, at least until he took back his comments, stressing that the US President has been the target of several assassination attempts and activist Charlie Kirk was killed because of such heated rhetoric.
Vandenbroucke said he supported his party leader, saying it was a matter of freedom of speech and adding: “What is happening in the US with ICE, these are shock troops being deployed for political purposes.
“This is democratic decline, the beginning of a slide towards an authoritarian system. You see things happening in the US that you also saw happening in Nazi Germany in 1933.”
White reacted and went on to dig up prior scandals surrounding Vandenbroucke and Rousseau, where the first was involved in burning illicit funds from a bribing scandal and the latter being engulfed in a scandal on racism and hate speech.
The latest episode forms part of a pattern of assertive US diplomacy in Europe, with White — a Trump appointee and donor — accused by critics of overstepping traditional boundaries.
In France, US Ambassador Charles Kushner faces being summoned over comments linked to the death of right-wing activist Quentin Deranque.
The 23-year-old died from head injuries sustained in an attack in Lyon on February 12, on the side-lines of an event featuring a hard left-wing La France Insoumise (LFI) politician.
French authorities have arrested 11 suspects, closely connected to LFI and the street-militia Jeune Garde (Young Guard), a far-left militia often serving as security of events for LFI and known for beating up people.
The US State Department’s Counterterrorism Bureau posted on X that reports of Deranque being killed by left-wing militants “should concern us all”, a statement echoed by the US Embassy in Paris.
French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot condemned the remarks as an attempt to exploit the tragedy “for political purposes” and “interference” in national affairs.
He announced Kushner would be summoned, reportedly for a meeting this evening, to address the comments.
Barrot indicated additional topics, including US sanctions on former EU commissioner Thierry Breton for his involvement in censorship and ICC judge Nicolas Guillou for approving an international arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
This marks the second such summons for Kushner, father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
In August 2025, he was called in after an open letter to French President Emmanuel Macron’s alleged insufficient action against anti-Semitism, a claim France rejected as contrary to international law.
Reports, corroborated by the French Minister of the Interior, that Quentin Deranque was killed by left-wing militants, should concern us all. Violent radical leftism is on the rise and its role in Quentin Deranque’s death demonstrates the threat it poses to public safety. We will…
— State Dept CT Bureau (@StateDeptCT) February 19, 2026
