The European Youth Forum (YFJ) organized a meeting of 1,300 young Level Up activists in Brussels! on the subject of the upcoming European elections. They learned how to communicate publicly, how to run successful activist campaigns, and how to counter hate speech. But it was the expressions of impending hatred that spoiled the very conclusion of the event, for which the European Parliament lent its Brussels premises to the youth.
“During the final session of the Level Up! event, which took place in the European Parliament Chamber, some participants took advantage of the transitional moment to disrupt the ceremony, shouting ‘Free Palestine’, ‘Ceasefire Now’ (Freedom to Palestine, ceasefire now, editor’s note) a accused Israel of ‘committing genocide’. The majority of the plenary began to applaud, including the moderators and various members of the Council and YFJ employees,” describes the situation of the Czech Union of Jewish Youth (ČUŽM). Its president, Emma Günsberger, also participated in the event as part of a thirteen-member delegation of the European Union of Jewish Students (EUJS), which has been a long-standing part of the YFJ youth forum.
One of the participants then asked to speak and began to teach the entire meeting hall how to express “Free Palestine” in sign language, adds ČUŽM.
The president of the Jewish Union, the Frenchwoman Emma Hallali, objected to this deviation from the topic. She rose from her chair and declared: “I don’t think this is the right place for it. I’m sorry, but we’re talking about the European elections here. We don’t have to import the conflict that is happening in Israel – in Palestine.” She subsequently left her seat in the hall. Reactions to it were mixed – as shown in the video shared by ČUŽM on Facebook, some briefly buzzed and whistled, while others clapped and booed.
“This is not the place to fight about any topic,” announced the moderator, but the passions had not subsided yet. “Why don’t you remember the hostages?!” declaimed Hallali’s colleagues. “Bring the hostages home!” they remembered dozens (and not only) Israelis who have been held by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip for over half a year.
Security intervened
Jakub Rychlý, one of the spokespersons of the Republic Youth Forum, describes the process in a similar way. “Some started yelling ‘terrorist’, ‘killing children’ and the like, not everything was understandable,” described for Blesk Zprávy. He said the audience was divided, perhaps 70% could applaud the slogan “Free Palestine”. “The group that verbally attacked was quite prominent. Parliamentary security guards were then seen near the Jewish students, but there was no physical conflict.” He thinks that the moderators mainly did not manage the situation. “They let it accumulate for three, maybe five minutes, before they finally cut it off, saying that there is a right to express an opinion, but this did not have the appropriate form,” Rychlý added.
“In a space where everyone was supposed to feel safe, Jewish students once again felt threatened. The security of the European Parliament immediately rushed to us and guarded us from the screaming crowd. Some members of the EUJS delegation started crying and others were shaking. As if the whole situation wasn’t tense enough, some participants physically approached the EUJS delegation, thus contributing to their visible sense of threat,” the youth organization of Czech Jews continues. “How is it possible that European Jewish students felt uncomfortable and threatened while sitting in the plenary chamber of the European Parliament – a place that should be the seat of European democracy?”
“I saw violence and hatred in the eyes of the participants. I have never experienced such aggression before, but this is exactly what European Jews are experiencing every day all over Europe.” ČUŽM then quotes Hallaliová.
“Did you see the video? She was not attacked for being Jewish. She has been criticized for trying to silence hundreds of people with whom she disagrees. Calling everything and everyone anti-Semitism is emptying the term and diluting the problem.” read out Hallali Dan Sobovitz from the Lay Jewish Community Center in Brussels, who moderated the opening of the youth event in Brussels.
Organizers: We condemn insults to Jews and Muslims
The management of the organizing forum defended the Jewish participants on Sunday and condemned the incident: “During the closing plenary, some audience members interrupted the planned program by shouting from the gallery. This led to a deviation from the program that we could not control,” reads the official statement on the YFJ website.
“We are united against any form of anti-Semitism, hatred of Muslims, xenophobia, racism and any hate speech. We protect freedom of expression and young people expressing their voices; however, we will not tolerate any aggression towards our participants,” the youth organization assures. “Once the moderators noticed that one of the participants was being verbally abused, they intervened to stop the behavior. We condemn all forms of insults and attempts to silence any participant and apologize for this experience and the dangerous atmosphere that accompanied these moments. We are committed to providing safer spaces for all our participants. Together with our team and partners, we will evaluate and learn from this incident. We offer support to the EUJS and all other persons and organizations affected by the incident,” the statement said.
YFJ issued an opinion on the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict in March. He does not explicitly take sides, condemns Hamas’s attack on Israel i “Israel’s disproportionate military response in violation of international human rights and humanitarian law”. It emphasizes human rights, condemns xenophobia of all kinds, draws attention to the bullying of Jewish and Palestinian students in Europe.
