Bettel interrupted by protesters over Israeli start-ups at NEXUS

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel was interrupted by protesters during an appearance at the NEXUS technology summit in Luxembourg this week, with demonstrators objecting to the participation of Israeli start-ups against the backdrop of the war in Gaza, according to a report by RTL.

RTL reported that Bettel was heckled at the event under the headline "Xavier Bettel heckled at NEXUS over participation of Israeli start-ups." The broadcaster's account places the disruption among the most visible expressions in Luxembourg of a debate that has divided European governments over how to engage with Israel and its companies while the conflict in Gaza continues. Status.lu was not present at the summit and is reporting the incident on the basis of RTL's coverage and publicly available material; the precise sequence of events, the number of people involved and the exact wording of any chants could not be independently verified at the time of writing.

What NEXUS is

NEXUS Luxembourg is the Grand Duchy's flagship artificial-intelligence and technology summit, held at Luxexpo The Box in the Kirchberg district. According to the event's organisers, the 2026 edition ran on 10 and 11 June and was billed as Europe's premier AI and technology gathering, drawing more than 10,000 visitors from over 50 countries, 150-plus speakers across five stages, and some 250 selected start-ups competing for a 100,000-euro grand prize. Organisers describe the format as a "4-in-1" summit intended to bring together global experts, EU policymakers, investors and financial leaders, and to position Luxembourg as a launchpad for innovation.

Coverage by Delano and Paperjam of the opening ceremony noted the presence of senior figures including Prime Minister Luc Frieden, European Commission Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen and OVHcloud founder Octave Klaba. Bettel, who holds the foreign-affairs portfolio, was listed among the summit's confirmed speakers and, according to his own account on LinkedIn, addressed the opening ceremony.

Who protested, and why

The demonstrators' objection, as reported by RTL, centred on the inclusion of Israeli technology firms at the summit. Their action follows a sustained wave of pro-Palestinian mobilisation in Luxembourg and across Europe linked to Israel's military campaign in Gaza, launched after the Hamas-led attack of 7 October 2023. Chronicle.lu has reported repeated demonstrations in Luxembourg City in support of a ceasefire, including a march that organisers said drew around 2,000 people.

Campaign groups have increasingly targeted the participation of Israeli companies in cultural, sporting and business events, framing such appearances as a question of complicity. The boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, for example, has called for what it terms "no tech for oppression," pressing organisers to exclude Israeli firms from international forums. The casualty figures cited in this debate are contested: the Gaza health ministry has reported that more than 71,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023, a toll that Israel disputes and that cannot be independently verified.

How Bettel and organisers responded

Bettel has previously addressed protest and criticism over Luxembourg's Middle East policy without abandoning his stated middle position. In an interview published by the Luxembourg Times in early June, the minister summarised his approach by saying, "We are neither friends of Israel nor Palestine. We are friends of peace," adding that he is "for an Israeli state, but I'm also for a Palestinian state, and for these to live in peace." He has also voiced reservations about the scale of Israel's operations in Gaza, telling the paper that "you have to ensure proportionality, which at a certain point wasn't there anymore," and that some of what Israel was doing "isn't justifiable."

The summit's organisers had not issued a detailed public statement on the disruption at the time of writing, and the response of event security could not be confirmed. Status.lu has sought comment from the foreign ministry and from NEXUS Luxembourg.

Luxembourg's position on Israel and Palestine

The protest unfolded against a markedly shifting diplomatic backdrop. On 22 September 2025, Luxembourg formally recognised the State of Palestine, an announcement made by Prime Minister Frieden, accompanied by Bettel, at a United Nations conference in New York. According to the government's official statement, the recognition was based on the 1967 borders and grounded in UN Security Council Resolution 2334 (2016), and was framed as "support for the two-state solution."

The government was careful to circumscribe the move. Its statement said recognition was "in no way directed against Israel or the Israeli people, whom Luxembourg has recognised since Israel's admission to the United Nations on 11 May 1949," recognised the Palestinian Authority as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, explicitly excluded Hamas, and condemned the group's attack of 7 October 2023. The statement also called for an immediate ceasefire and humanitarian access to Gaza.

Bettel has pushed for firmer EU action short of severing ties. Luxembourg joined Ireland, Slovenia and Spain in signing a letter calling for a review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, and Bettel has argued, according to Paperjam, that "we can no longer close our eyes and we must find ways of putting pressure on Jerusalem." Those efforts have repeatedly stalled. EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg failed to reach the unanimity required to suspend trade provisions of the agreement, with foreign-policy chief Kaja Kallas confirming that consensus was lacking and Germany and Italy among those resisting suspension, as reported by Al Jazeera.

A summit caught between two narratives

For NEXUS, the episode underlines how a business-and-investment showcase can become a venue for geopolitical contestation. Luxembourg has sought to brand itself as an open, neutral hub for technology and finance, while simultaneously taking one of the more critical EU stances toward Israel's conduct in Gaza. The disruption of its foreign minister at the country's signature tech event brought those two impulses into direct, public collision.