A former European Union diplomat filmed himself paragliding over Gaza and said: “Once we have a free Palestine, you can do the same” – three months before Hamas terrorists flew into Israel to carry out a bloody invasion.
Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff, who was the EU envoy to Palestine until August, said he paraglided off the Mediterranean coast to “draw attention to the besieged Palestinian enclave.”
Just three months after the stunt, the territory’s rulers, Hamas, launched an attack on Israel from land, sea and air, triggering retaliatory Israeli attacks that devastated swaths of the impoverished enclave.
In the years before the conflict erupted, the densely populated strip of land was blockaded by Israel – which prevented Palestinians and visitors from enjoying sporting activities, according to Mr von Burgsdorff in the resurfaced video.
The German diplomat wore a T-shirt with an EU flag and enthusiastically bragged in the video that he had completed the “first Gaza paragliding flight in history.”
Former EU diplomat Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff said he paraglided off the coast of Gaza to “draw attention to the besieged Palestinian enclave.”
The paragliding equipment belonged to the envoy, an EU spokesman said at the time
The German diplomat wore a T-shirt with the EU flag and enthusiastically bragged in the video that he had completed the “first Gaza paragliding flight in history.”
One of the paragliders took off before being joined by other members of the Hamas group
He initially struggled to take off, waiting for the wind to fill the parachute and lift him off the ground, receiving help from his team and locals.
After becoming airborne and returning safely to the cliff, he said the feat proved: “Here you can fly, you can kayak, you can ride a horse, you can swim, you can surf.” Anything is possible in Gaza .
“Once we have a free Palestine and a free Gaza, you can do exactly the same thing.” And that’s why I did this, to show you the way forward and work for it.”
The paragliding equipment belonged to the envoy, an EU spokesman said at the time, suggesting that he had managed to get it through border security thanks to his diplomatic immunity.
Mr. von Burgsdorff was in the air at a height of 50 meters for at least five minutes, the spokesman said, adding that Israel was not informed about “the purely local and sporting activity.”
The Israeli Foreign Ministry called the stunt a “provocative action” and accused von Burgsdorff of “representing the Palestinian narrative” and not the EU.
Mr. von Burgsdorff recently came under fire for comments he made about Israel’s response to the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks, in which 1,400 Israelis were killed and over 220 taken hostage.
He told Democracy Now that while he understood the “despair” and “emotional tension” in Israel over the terrorists’ invasion, they must abide by international law in their retaliation.
“No matter what Hamas has done, it does not justify the incredible use of lethal force indiscriminately and without proportionality against the Palestinian population in Gaza.”
Mr von Burgsdorff was 50 meters in the air for at least five minutes, an EU spokesman said, adding that Israel had not been informed of “the purely local and sporting activity”.
“Distinction, proportionality and caution are inviolable principles of the code of conduct in armed hostilities.” And Israel, as a democracy, cannot escape this and must be held accountable.
“It cannot be that Israel has carte blanche because terrible, brutal and atrocious acts have happened to 1,000 or even 1,200 Israelis. “That is not the excuse that can be used to raze Gaza to the ground.”
While Mr. von Burgsdorff criticized Israel’s relentless attack on the Gaza Strip, he failed to condemn Hamas’s attack on Israeli civilians.
Hamas fighters from the “Falcon” squadron were seen walking through the sand at dawn with the equipment that would be used in the operation
According to the Israeli military, Hamas fighters have bypassed Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip using paragliders (pictured: a paraglider flying to Israel).
Young festival-goers had danced and enjoyed themselves at the Nova party on the Gaza border on October 7, unaware that members of the militant Hamas group would descend from the sky and spread terror.
In a video released a few days later, Hamas fighters were seen training for their deadly paragliding attack.
It showed them landing with weapons drawn before entering mock buildings marked with the Jewish Star of David.
Israeli airstrikes have killed over 4,600 people and injured over 14,000 in Gaza since October 7, according to the Hamas-run health authority in the area.
Israeli warplanes continued to attack targets in Gaza and two airports in Syria throughout the weekend and into Monday morning, according to local media.
Meanwhile, around 95 people are believed to have been killed in the occupied West Bank, where a mosque allegedly used by terrorists was bombed by Israeli forces over the weekend.