A pro-Israel Swedish member of the European Parliament, Alice Teodorescu Måwe, was verbally and physically attacked by a civil servant from the Left group in the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday.
The incident happened as the E.U. assembly was debating the situation in Gaza.
In Sweden, Teodorescu Måwe is a member of the Christian Democrats, which is part of the governing coalition, and in the European Parliament, she is a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group.
While initial reports of the incident were contradictory, European Parliament spokesperson Delphine Colard indicated that the assessment “confirmed the MEP’s version of events’,’ as a CCTV surveillance camera was in operation in the part of the legislature where the incident occurred.
The incident started when the Left staff member, reportedly a Swede of Middle Eastern descent, photographed and filmed the Bucharest-born MEP.
“When Alice asked the person to explain his actions, the person claimed that they intended to publish the images on social media to ‘tell the world what a terrible person’ Alice is,” Natalie Tegelberg, secretary of the Christian Democrats, told Swedish press agency TT.
According to Tegelberg, Teodorescu Måwe asked if it was OK to take a picture of the civil servant, “who then became aggressive and tried to take the phone out of Alice’s hand with violence. In the tumult, the official began shouting and made baseless accusations of assault against Alice.”
The situation quickly calmed down when guards arrived. Everything was caught on the parliament’s surveillance cameras, according to Tegelberg.
Teodorescu Måwe, who left Brussels after the incident, said she will report it to the police and to the parliament’s security department.
Swedish Deputy Prime Minister Ebba Busch of the Christian Democrats party said she is “disturbed” over the incident. “I sat down with a shaken Alice. No one should have to fear for their safety,” she wrote on X.
“It is political activism in a threatening and hateful manner,’’ she added.
Tomas Tobé, an MEP for Sweden’s Moderate Party, wrote on X: “We have seen open antisemitism in the Left Party, and yesterday’s incident goes in the same direction.”
Earlier this week, Teodorescu Måwe stated that recognizing the Jewish homeland should be a prerequisite to obtaining Swedish citizenship. In an entry on her blog titled “No left-wing Nazis on our streets,” she called for stricter requirements for obtaining Swedish citizenship in response to the rise of antisemitic slogans at pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
“To obtain Swedish citizenship at all, it should be required that the person who wants to become a Swedish citizen also recognizes the right of the State of Israel to exist,” she wrote.
Newcomers should “embrace the Judeo-Christian values on which Swedish democracy is based,” she said, adding that non-citizens who incite violence and threaten the Jewish minority should be deported immediately.
Teodorescu Måwe is a member of the European Parliament Delegation for relations with Israel, where she leads the fight against overt antisemitism, and Jew-hatred masquerading as anti-Zionism.
Last October, she hosted an event at the European Parliament to commemorate one year since the Oct. 7, 2023, massacres.
“Anti-Zionism is antisemitism,” Teodorescu Måwe said. “Criticism of Israel has replaced direct attacks on Jews, but the intent remains the same.”
Originally published by the European Jewish Press.
