The recent altercation between a Member of the European Parliament and a political staffer in Brussels is more serious than it may appear. Not simply because of what happened — that’s for others to determine — but because of what it reveals about our political climate.
We are living in a time when emotions around politics — or, too often, sheer hatred — run so high that they drown out democratic discourse. This isn’t just about Israel and Hamas, or Trump, or climate change or migration. It’s about the erosion of respect for those who think differently — even within the very institutions meant to uphold democracy.
When professionals — elected representatives and public servants alike — can no longer engage respectfully and instead end up in physical confrontation, it signals a deeper crisis.
And when two Israeli diplomats are murdered outside the Holocaust Museum in Washington — not outside an embassy, not at a political rally — while the killer shouts “Free Palestine,” the hatred becomes impossible to ignore. This is no longer about protesting policy. It’s about targeting people — and identity itself.
We must never accept a society where politicians are silenced by fear, or where individuals are endangered not for what they do, but for what they represent.
This is not about who is to blame in any one incident. It is about the direction we’re heading. Democracy is not built on agreement — it’s built on the ability to live with disagreement. Lose that, and we risk losing democracy itself.
I’ve taken part in many intense political debates. They’ve been tough, sometimes brutal. But never violent. Never consumed by the kind of hatred that’s now gaining ground.
Those of us who believe in the open society have a choice to make: stay silent, or speak out in defense of the freedoms that hold our democracies together — especially when it’s hardest to do so.