‘I Have Never Seen So Much Hate’: Outrage at a UN Official’s Event

Sonja Bohl-Danker, the mother of Caroline Bohl, who was murdered at age 22 in Kibbutz Nir Oz during the October 7 massacre, attended a March premiere at the Babylon cinema in Berlin and left shocked.

The guest of honor at the event was Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on Palestine, who is identified with harsh criticism of Israel. But according to Bohl-Danker, what took place inside and outside the hall crossed every line. “I have never been in a space where I felt so much hate,” she told a German newspaper. “Everywhere there were keffiyehs, terrible slogans and pure hatred toward everything connected to Israel.”

Outside the cinema, heated demonstrations were held, during which anti-Israel chants were heard, as well as claims denying the October 7 massacre. The tense atmosphere did not remain in the street, it also entered the hall. The target of the attack became German politician Karolin Preissler, who works for the return of the hostages and is identified with support for Israel. Dozens of participants surrounded her, demanded that she be removed from the venue, and repeatedly shouted at her, “Nazi, Nazi.” According to the testimonies, participants who tried to raise critical questions also faced verbal attacks and were called “racists” and “Nazis.”

Bohl-Danker said that during the event Albanese made a series of serious accusations against Israel, including a claim that dogs sent to Israel are trained in Belgium to rape Palestinians. According to her, the remarks were met with applause from the audience.

For the bereaved mother, who lost her daughter in the Hamas massacre, the most upsetting moment was not necessarily what was said, but the lack of empathy for the Israeli victims. “I feel abandoned,” she said in January. After the event, she added, “I was shocked by the things themselves, and by the reaction to them,” Bohl-Danker said after the premiere, “but בעיקר I was shocked by who the people were. They had no empathy for Caroline, for me, or for the other victims on the Israeli side.”