Alice Teodorescu Mawe is a strong supporter of Israel. She stated that recognizing the Jewish homeland should be a prerequisite to obtaining Swedish citizenship.
A pro-Israel Swedish Member of the European Parliament, Alice Teodorescu Mawe, 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 EU assembly was debating the situation in Gaza.
In Sweden, Teodorescu Mawe is a member of the Christian Democrats (KD) party, which is part of the governing coalition, and of the European People’s Party in the European Parliament.
While initial reports of the incident were contradictory, EU Parliament’s 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 Parliament where the incident occurred.
The incident started when the Left staff member, reportedly a Swede of Middle Eastern descent, photographed and filmed the 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 Mawe asked if it was okay 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 the guards arrived. Everything was caught on the parliament’s surveillance cameras, according to Tegelberg.
Theodorescu Mawe, who has left Brussels after the incident, said she will report it to the police and to the parliament’s security department.
The Christian Democrats’ party leader Ebba Busch 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 anti-Semitism in the Left Party and yesterday’s incident goes in the same direction.”
Teodorescu Mawe is a strong supporter of Israel. Earlier this week, she stated that recognising the Jewish homeland should be a prerequisite to obtaining Swedish citizenship. In an entry on her blog entitled ”No left-wing Nazis on our streets’‘, she called for stricter requirements for Swedish citizenship in response to the rise of anti-Semitic 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 recognises the right of the state of Israel to exist.”, she wrote.
Newcomers should also “embrace the Judeo-Christian values on which Swedish democracy is based”, she added, noting that non-citizens who incite violence and threaten the Jewish minority should be deported immediately.
She is a member of the European Parliament delegation for relations with Israel where she is a staunch advocate for Jews and Israel, leading the fight against overt antisemitism, as well as Jew-hatred masquerading as anti-Zionism.
Last October, she hosted an event at the European Parliament to commemorate one year since the October 7 massacres.
“Anti-Zionism is antisemitism,” she said. “Criticism of Israel has replaced direct attacks on Jews, but the intent remains the same.”