European Muslim parties and movements currently rallying around the slogan "Free Palestine" are planning to participate in the June European parliament elections. Their goal is to raise awareness of the consequences of the war in Gaza and to call for more forceful action toward Israel by the European Union (EU).
The movement began in France with the Union des démocrates musulmans de France (Union of Muslim Democrats of France, UDMF), a small group that positions itself as center-left, anti-Zionist and anti-imperialist. It is set to extend to Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain and perhaps, Belgium and Greece.
The coalition, whose name has not yet been defined, presented its program in Brussels on Tuesday, March 19. It is calling on Europe "to be consistent with its promises of peace on the continent and in the world," said Nagib Azergui, founder of the UDMF. As Israel's biggest trading partner, the EU must apply sanctions against it to force a negotiated solution to the conflict, he said. "The EU is the main instrument for resolving this conflict," argued Sydney Anders of the Swedish Nyans party.
The coalition claims to support the idea of a two-state solution, which remains the official stance of the EU-27. To achieve this, its members advocate dialogue between the various parties involved, including Hamas. "We can say it's a terrorist organization, but either we condemn everyone, or we bring everyone together around a table to reach a solution", said Azergui.
'Be on the side of justice'
When asked about the terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023, the Swedish representative and her German colleague, Haluk Yildiz, president of the Alliance for Innovation and Justice (BIG) party, said they condemned them. However, they were keen to point out that, in their view, "these actions stemmed from 75 years of oppression." "We have to be on the side of justice, and in Germany in particular, we don't want to talk about what happened before these attacks," explained Yildiz.
"He who sows terror reaps terror. We must not accept any deaths, but the Israeli government is primarily responsible," said Belgian MP Fouad Ahidar, a dissident of the Flemish Parti Socialiste Vooruit. "We don't have a problem with the Jews, but with the Israeli government," Ahidar said.
Ahidar is undecided about participating in the elections, hesitating over the coalition's use of "genocide" to describe the situation, included in the coalition's program. "Maybe a new word needs to be invented, because genocides were discovered after they had been perpetrated. In this case, the massacres are taking place daily, right before our eyes," he said, deploring the fact that "no one is moving, either in Europe or among the Palestinians' 500 million neighbors."
You have 10.11% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.