Pro-Palestine activists chanted ‘Nazi scum, off our streets’ at Israelis at union conference

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.