Although October 7, 2023 feels like yesterday, it is now more than a year and three months behind us. The ongoing genocide in Gaza has shaped Een Andere Joodse Stem’s 2024, just as the ongoing oppression of Palestinians has shaped our past decade of action to promote justice and equality for all communities in Palestine-Israel and Europe. This post describes many of our activities over the past year.

In January, we were present in the Hague to demonstrate at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) hearing in South Africa’s case against Israel under the Genocide Convention, and we participated in a Brussels protest for Justice in Palestine. Along with other protests in which we participated, it demanded that the European Council support the proceedings against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), activate economic and political repercussions against Israel in accordance with the human rights provisions of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, and support the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation and prosecution of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes of apartheid.

In February, our member Fenya Fischler spoke at the Parti du travail (PTB) panel Comment décoloniser la Palestine?, in Brussels, along with South African ambassador to Belgium and Palestinian legal Expert Maha Abdallah. 

In March, we joined several other organizations in solidarity as the criminal court in Ghent delivered its verdict against the extreme-right group Schild & Vrienden, seven of whose members were on trial for incitement to race-based violence and other charges, including a violation of weapons legislation and violent threats against Jihad Van Puymbroeck, a former chairperson of Hand in Hand Against Racism. Henri Heimans was also a party to this case as a son of Holocaust survivors shocked by Schild & Vrienden’s mockery of the Holocaust. Emmanuel Stein spoke. In addition, we participated in the national protest against racism organized by Platforme 2103 each March. We were present as part of the Jewish Block at that month’s national demonstration for Justice in Palestine, where Anya Topolski spoke and Fenya Fischler was interviewed by 11.11.11. Finally, we hosted the Belgian showing of the film Israelism, followed by a panel that included the film’s creators as well as  EAJS and UPJB members.

In April, we joined the call for the release of Israeli-Palestinian academic Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian from Israeli prison, spoke against Belgian Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration Nicole de Moor’s attempt to withdraw the refugee status of Palestinian activist Mohamed Khatib, and presented at a queer public education event about Palestine hosted by Clitpit/Samenschool in Antwerpen.

In May, our member Henri Heimans was among the speakers at the 8 May event that yearly memorializes the fight against fascism at the former Nazi prison camp Fort Breendonk. We also participated in that month’s European March for a Free Palestine, in another protest in reaction to an IDF attack on civilians in Rafah, and published an opinion piece in De Wereld Morgen welcoming the decision of the ICC prosecutor to apply to the court’s pre-trial chamber for arrest warrants for war crimes related to the war in Gaza. At the end of the month, our members Itamar Shachar and Fenya Fischler published a piece in De Morgen expressing our solidarity with Belgian student protests and building occupations in support of Gazans.

In June, we co-initiated  an event to honour the monument for the resistance heroes of the 20th convoy to Auschwitz that had recently been vandalized. Henri Heimans spoke, emphasizing the need for vigilance and resistance against antisemitism and fascism today. We also issued a statement regarding the ICJ ruling on the illegality of the Israeli occupation.

In August, following the heightened tension between Israel and Iran, we published an article in Knack emphasizing that the only way to reach a lasting peace in the Middle East is to end the occupation and dismantle the structures of colonization and apartheid. At the request of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives, we wrote a nota responding to the proposal that Belgium adopts the IHRA definition of antisemitism, explaining our opposition to this definition that conflates criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism.

In September, on Rosh Hashanah, many of our members participated in the launch event as we joined the new network European Jews for Palestine, and Fenya Fischler spoke.

In October, we joined the national protest for a free Palestine. We also participated in an action against APCO Worldwide, a lobbying group that has been supporting Israel’s genocide in Gaza and war crimes in Palestine and Lebanon. Eitan Bronstein, Itamar Shachar, Anya Topolski, were among those interviewed in De Morgen about their critique of the European Union’s reactions to the Israeli occupation and the genocide in Gaza. Henri Heimans also published an opinion piece in De Morgen, sharing his horror that the Israeli government, which rose out of the ashes of the Holocaust, is now massacring Palestinians.

In November, we responded, together with other European Jewish groups, to critiques of UN Human Rights Rapporteur Francesa Albanese’s support of Palestinian human rights. Fenya Fischler was interviewed by Gazet Van Antwerpen and Apache about the new Islamophobic extreme-right organization Jewish Information and Documentation Center (JID), which considers criticism of Israel antisemitic. Henri Heimans spoke at a protest in support of Palestine on the campus of Vrije Universiteit Brussels (VUB).

In December, Fenya Fischler was interviewed on the radio news of the VRT, the national Flemish-language broadcaster of Belgium, an interview that was also translated and published by the BRF, the national German-language broadcaster of Belgium. We commemorated 10 years since the founding of Een Andere Joodse Stem in a gathering where our member Amir Haberkorn spoke about the history of Bundism, a secular, diasporist Jewish movement that advocated for workers’ rights and Yiddish culture. Anya Topolski published an opinion piece in Knack looking back on our last decade of action, hoping for a future where EAJS will no longer be necessary.