The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) had to intervene to protect Israeli delegates at a trade union conference in Belfast last week after pro-Palestine activists chanted slogans, including “Nazi scum off our streets”, at them.
Avital Shapira, director of international relations at the Histadrut (the Federation of Labour in Israel) told the JC she was shocked by the level of hostility she experienced.
She and 15 other delegates from Israel were taking part in a conference organised by Uni Europa, a trade union body headquartered in Brussels that represents 272 trade unions from across the world. An estimated 600 delegates from 50 countries took part in the conference.
“No words can express the level of hatred and the deep levels of obsessive and vocal anti-Israelism and antisemitism I felt while participating at this conference”, Shapira said.
Pro-Palestine demonstrators chanted “Nazi scum” at Israeli delegates outside of the Belfast conference hall and they required the protection of four PSNI officers.
“Comparing Israelis to Nazis breaks the IHRA definition of antisemitism and is as offensive and upsetting, as the daughter of a holocaust survivor, as people can get”, Shapira went on.
The hostile environment extended inside the conference centre, where Israeli delegates were greeted by shouts that they “weren’t welcome” and had their speeches disrupted by activists waving the Palestinian flags and, Shapira claims, signs that “included an antisemitic mural portrait of the Histadrut in a puddle of blood”.
One image held by activists outside the conference depicted bloodstained hands over the image of Histadrut chairman Arnon Bar-David along with the caption “greetings from the Histadrut workers in Israel”.
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An image held by campaigners in Belfast (Image: X/Karen Ivers)[Missing Credit]
"The demonstrators decided to disrupt one of my speeches by storming the stage and holding up banners and Palestinian flags. What does this achieve? What place does this have in a trade union conference, attacking fellow trade unionists”, Shapira added.
However, she insisted that the attempts at intimidation had the reverse effect: “Although fanatics wanted to silence us, I spoke in the plenum three times, emphasising the Histadrut’s commitment to gender equality, women empowerment, protection of all workers’ rights, and peace. Calling loudly to immediate release our beloved hostages and thus ensure the resumption of the ceasefire.”
Histadrut's Avital Shapira (Image: Facebook)[Missing Credit]
As well as seeing down the intimidating protesters outside the hall, the Israeli delegates also saw off attempts to exclude them from the movement altogether.
According to Shapira: “There was an attempt to expel us from UNI Europa, but I was elected to the Resolutions Committee (where I prevented an extreme anti-Israeli statement), and the Executive and Women Committees.”
She concluded: “Like Israel, we are not going away and we will continue to play our part in the global trade union movement. Those who attack us only make us stronger.”
