(Warning: The following contains sensitive material, reader discretion is advised.)

Pro-Palestinian activists dressed as Hamas terrorists reenacted the October 7 Massacre in central Brussels during the third annual Samidoun-organized "Resistance Festival," which ran from June 6 to Sunday, June 8.

Videos from the event show masked men in keffiyehs and army fatigues pointing prop guns, while other actors play dead bodies heaped on the floor. When the men playing Hamas terrorists see that everyone is dead, they put their arms around one another and raise their hands in victory. Fake blood is also seen in the video.

The re-enactment, accompanied by music and a voice-over about “From the river to the sea,” was met with whoops, cheers, and applause from the audience.

One of the attendees posted on Instagram: “Resistance is justified when people are occupied. When there is a genocide, resistance is justified.”

Israel’s ambassador to Belgium, Idit Rosenzweig-Abu, posted the video on X/Twitter, saying she “just couldn’t believe it’s real, but it is.”

“Here in Brussels. Reenactment of the 7/10 massacre. Blood and bodies on the floor and all.”

Belgian MP Sam van Rooy said on X that Samidoun had promised in advance not to make any explicit or implicit reference to Hamas or Hezbollah, “not to call for hatred or violence and to strictly respect social cohesion.”

He added that the mayor of the city, Jean Spinette (who condemned the footage and asked the police to investigate) had acted “too little, too late.”

Spinette stated on Monday that there was no reason to ban the “performance” as the organizers had promised not to refer to Hamas or Hezbollah.

“I share the indignation at the discovery of these images,” he said, adding that despite this, “The elements in our possession did not allow for a ban a priori, without jeopardizing freedom of expression.”

After viewing the images, Spinette said that Samidoun had not upheld the agreement.

Van Rooy promised to “grill the De Wever government as soon as possible.”

Politician Georges-Luis Bouchez said that the mayor “was perfectly informed about the event [prior to it taking place] and the radicals who composed it since he was notified in an email of which I have a copy.”

“He preferred not to act so as not to upset his left-wing friends,” he said, adding that “It is high time to ban these associations that stir up hatred.”

Details of the festival

Samidoun, a group listed as a terrorist organization in the United States and Canada, formed a coalition with other organizations in order to run the festival, including multiple local pro-Palestine groups: PCP (Popular Committee for Palestine), AJAB (Alliance Juive Antisioniste de Belgique), and Al Falasteniyeh (which has alleged ties to the PFLP).

According to Samidoun, the event aimed to highlight the “culture of Palestinian, Arab, and international anti-imperialist resistance.”

The list of activities included the screening of two films, "The Dupes" and "Behind the Lines," as well as football tournaments, slam poetry, Palestinian dance, and a “militant village with henna, many activist organizations in Brussels, calligraphy.”

The Sunday program involved an event with the "School of the Revolution," which taught about “resisting police violence and state repression, organizing against fascism, struggling against the targeting of migrants, and building solidarity with Palestine.” There was also a letter-writing workshop in “solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in Zionist and international prisons.”

The three political panels were “Palestinians and non-Palestinians, Jews and non-Jews: All together against Zionism,” as well as one about boycott and another about “anti-imperialist struggles.”