Justice Rising: Global Alliance for Palestine Statehood
Launch of the International Alliance for the Recognition of the State of Palestine, this June 4 in Paris, with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the French Communist Party (PCF), the Palestine Forum and with progressive forces from around the world. A historic day to advance justice and peace!
Read the speech of the President of the Party of the European Left, Walter Baier and the the Final Declaration of the Freedom for Palestine Conference below.
Dear friends, comrades,
Today I stand before you to speak not only about a people under occupation, but also about our own responsibility – Europe’s responsibility – for the injustice inflicted upon the Palestinian people. Just days ago, the Israeli cabinet approved the construction of 22 new settlements in the occupied West Bank. Let’s be clear: this is not just a policy decision. It is a brutal act of aggression and a blatant violation of international law.
The intention is crystal clear – to erase any remaining hope for peace, and to destroy the prospect of an independent Palestinian state. No matter how far one stretches the imagination, not even the most fanatical defender of settler colonialism can link these new settlements to the events of October 7th.
These are not acts of defense; they are acts of expansion and domination.
Europe’s complicity in this injustice is deep and multifaceted.
A century ago, the European colonial powers promised a land that wasn’t theirs – Palestine – to two peoples, setting the stage for endless conflict.
After the horrors of the Holocaust, it was not Europe but the Palestinians who paid the price. Though they bore no guilt for that genocide, their homeland became the stage for its aftermath. And still today, it is American and European weapons that enable Israel’s decades-long war against the Palestinian people. This complicity is wrapped in myths that we must now dismantle. The first myth is that the European Union acts as a global moral power, a defender of international law.
But the reality exposes a shocking double standard. Just days after Russia invaded Ukraine, the EU imposed sanctions. Today we’re on the 17th package. But in the face of Israel’s 18-month-long assault on Gaza – with tens of thousands of civilian casualties – military cooperation continues, arms deliveries continue, and the moral silence is deafening. Even mild criticism from Brussels is half-hearted and vague. Meanwhile, when an Austrian Eurovision winner called for Israel to be suspended from the contest – just as Russia had been – he was publicly attacked by the political establishment and the media.
Let me be clear: I am against punishing artists for the crimes of their governments. But the comparison is valid. Israel’s successive governments systematically violate international law and the UN Charter through occupation and forced displacement. The devastating truth is that in just half the time, the war on Gaza has claimed twice as many civilian lives as Russia’s war on Ukraine. Naming these crimes is not antisemitic. It is a moral duty.
In February, Netanyahu’s Likud party joined the far-right European Parliament group “Patriots for Europe” – a bloc that includes the ideological heirs of Europe’s fascists. When such forces present themselves today as champions of Jews and opponents of antisemitism, it is an insult to Holocaust survivors and victims. It is historical amnesia weaponized for political gain. The European Left has condemned the Hamas massacre of October 7th. We do not justify it. We do not downplay it. 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed – and we mourn every one of them.
But the refusal of our political and media elites to show equal empathy for the now more than 60,000 Palestinian casualties – mostly women and children – is morally bankrupt. Open any mainstream newspaper: Israeli victims are named, their faces and stories shown. Palestinian victims are reduced to numbers – numbers often dismissed as “unverified claims from Hamas.” This dehumanization is part of the violence.
The worst distortion, however, is the attempt to justify genocide in Gaza and expansionism in the West Bank, Syria, and Lebanon by invoking the Holocaust. Let us state the historical truth: The Shoah was perpetrated by white Europeans against other white Europeans – not by Palestinians. The people being displaced today are not those who committed that genocide. As Max Horkheimer once said: “Those who do not wish to speak of capitalism should also remain silent about fascism.” And I would add: those who ignore colonialism should not preach about peace.
Yes, the fight against antisemitism is a constant political and cultural obligation. But we conduct this fight in the name of universal values – values that also demand we stand against anti-Muslim racism, apartheid, and all forms of ethnic supremacy. Israel today is not defending its right to exist. It is systematically destroying the conditions for Palestinian life – from the river to the sea – to make room for Greater Israel. Netanyahu does not speak for all Jews, nor does the Israeli state. Many Jews, in Israel and around the world, have drawn different lessons from the Shoah – and reject the logic of Zionist nationalism.
Netanyahu and his allies have turned the Zionist dream into a dystopia – an apartheid state that has transformed from a vision of Jewish liberation into a tool of oppression. Israel has become a pariah in the eyes of the international community. Two peoples live in historic Palestine. Both have the right to safety, dignity, and freedom. That is why the United Nations has called for the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel – a vision we must now actively work to realize. No nation, not even Israel, can wage war against the rest of the world forever.
THEREFORE, WE DEMAND:
- A ceasefire now,
- The withdrawal from all occupied territories,
- The release of all hostages and political prisoners,
- And a return to real negotiations toward a just and lasting peace.
Dear comrades, when the night is darkest, the morning is near. Across Europe, it’s no longer only students and left-wing parties demanding action. Governments like Ireland and Spain are taking bold steps. More will follow. Europe – meaning the EU and its member states – cannot escape its historic and current responsibility.
SO, LET US SAY CLEARLY:
- We demand a weapons embargo on Israel.
- We demand economic sanctions.
- We demand the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which conditions cooperation on respect for human rights.
- And we demand full recognition of the State of Palestine – here and now.
Thank you for attention.