Brussels, November 17th, 2023 – “The largest pogrom after the Shoah did not happen in a vacuum. It was the culmination of more than thirty years of incitement to violence and a systematic indoctrination of young Palestinians to hate Jews,” said ECI Founding Director Tomas Sandell in the European Report which was recorded in the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday.

Sandell went on to say that “this indoctrination was allowed to continue while the European Union remained the largest institutional donor both of the Palestinian Authority and UNWRA. Once the dust has settled after the current war in Gaza the EU has a major responsibility to rebuild Gaza by re-training its population to live in coexistence and peace with its Israeli neighbours. This commitment also includes the current school system in the Palestinian territories governed by Fatah. This process of lifelong learning needs to start already in the Palestinian kindergartens and continue throughout the education system. There is no prospect for peace while young people are brought up to hate.”

In the program co-panellist, Austrian MEP Lukas Mandl noted that the massacre on October 7th was not an isolated regional intrusion but part of a global strategy of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its proxies to fuel tension and hatred around the world. “This role of global Islamism can also be seen in the anti-Israeli marches which are taking place around the world,” he noted.

Mandl concluded by saying that “while Israel is fighting an existential war, this battle involves all nations who reject antisemitism, terrorism and global Islamism.”

The European report is the monthly talk show of the European Coalition for Israel and is recorded in the European Parliament in Brussels. This month’s edition was moderated by Belgian journalist Yossi Lempkowicz.

Watch the latest European Report here.