Brussels, September 12th, 2025 – Twenty-four years after the September 11 terror attack in New York and Washington DC, European Coalition for Israel has issued an urgent warning against the current rise of political violence and extremism in the United States and Europe following the political assassination of conservative activist and Christian Zionist Charlie Kirk on Wednesday night. In various eulogies on Thursday Kirk was praised by Jewish community leaders for his role as a bulwark against antisemitism, a proponent of Judeo-Christian values and a strong supporter of the US-Israeli partnership. But as much as he was celebrated in conservative circles his traditional views on cultural issues made him a controversial figure in progressive circles.

“While it is still too early to know anything about the motives of the assassin, we need to take heed of this warning”, ECI Founding Director Tomas Sandell said on Thursday night. “Political violence, regardless of if it comes from the extreme left or the extreme right, can never be tolerated.” Earlier in the summer Democratic legislator Melissa Hortman and her husband were killed in Minnesota by a person who is believed to hold extremist right-wing views.

In recent months Jews have been murdered in cold blood in the US but nothing guarantees that this could not also happen in Europe where anti-Israel rhetorics have intensified in recent months. Just before the summer recess a prominent Swedish MEP Alice Teodorescu Måwe was physically assaulted inside the European Parliament by an EP staff member while on her way to cast an important vote on an Israel related issue. In her native Sweden both government ministers and members of parliament are bullied and intimidated on a daily basis both outside their parliamentary offices and in some cases even their private homes by pro-Palestinian activists, many of them with a criminal record.

“We cannot tolerate a situation where elected leaders are physically threatened or assaulted because of their political views. Neither can we accept that many highly paid EU officials are currently taking sides in the ongoing war in Gaza and openly intimidating elected leaders who support Israel”, Tomas Sandell said. In recent weeks EU staff has threatened with strikes if the European Commission does not change its policy on Gaza. Last Wednesday, a live recording of the European Report talk show from the studio in the European Parliament in Brussels discussing the prospect of an EU boycott of Israel was partly interrupted by EU staff protesting outside the studio, accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza.

In the ECI Monthly Report on Thursday Sandell warned about what he described as a “return of the Black shirts”, the name of the Fascist action squads which dominated the streets in Italy through violence and intimidation between the First and the Second World War.

Sandell concluded, “Unless we learn to disagree in a civilized manner our democracy is under threat. Violence is not an option.”