"Never Again for All Peoples": Dr. Sami Ayad, Honorary President of the Palestinian Community in Austria, Delivers Moving Speech at Vienna's "Song Protest 2026"
2026-05-15
VIENNA — In mid-May, as Vienna hosted the Eurovision Song Contest, a coalition of artists, human rights activists, and community organizations launched the "Song Protest 2026" counter-manifestations. Standing under the global motto "No Stage for Genocide," the creative and political protests criticized the normalization of international law violations and called for solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Coinciding with Nakba Remembrance Day, a major cultural and solidarity event took place at Maria-Theresien-Platz featuring international artists and speakers. Among the highlights was a deeply personal, historic testimony by Dr. Sami Ayad, the Honorary President of the Palestinian Community in Austria. Below is the full transcript of his speech:
"Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends!
My name is Sami Ayad. I was born in November 1944 in Jaffa, the eighth of nine children. As a four-year-old, I can still see it before my eyes: my father, weeping, sitting at the back of a truck with my older siblings, while we children followed in a car driving toward Egypt. We fled with nothing but the clothes on our backs, after almost all the inhabitants of the suburbs were killed by the Israelis following the declaration of the State of Israel. This is a fact, ladies and gentlemen. Otherwise, my father would never have left his businesses, plantation, and houses behind so easily.
And this happened despite the fact that the Declaration of Independence of the State of Israel emphasized, and I quote: 'The State will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.'
Ladies and gentlemen, nothing of this was kept. Almost one million people were displaced, thousands murdered. Not a single UN resolution for the rights of Palestinians was followed. Slowly, after 78 years, a true apartheid state has developed, complete with separation walls, hundreds of checkpoints, and illegal settlements. And what is so tragic now is that 75% of Israelis support the continuation of the war, and 50% speak in favor of the displacement of all Palestinians.
Ladies and gentlemen, my friends, this stance, this attitude must NOT be rewarded. This Israeli government, with its atrocities in the name of self-defense, must NOT be allowed to wash its hands clean here in Vienna.
May 5th was the commemoration day for the liberation of Mauthausen. On that occasion, it is always emphasized: 'NEVER AGAIN.' Yes, my friends, NEVER, NEVER AGAIN for all peoples.
I thank you."
source:
https://www.palaestinasolidaritaet.at/2026-05-20-rede-von-dr-sami-ayad/
Coinciding with Nakba Remembrance Day, a major cultural and solidarity event took place at Maria-Theresien-Platz featuring international artists and speakers. Among the highlights was a deeply personal, historic testimony by Dr. Sami Ayad, the Honorary President of the Palestinian Community in Austria. Below is the full transcript of his speech:
"Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends!
My name is Sami Ayad. I was born in November 1944 in Jaffa, the eighth of nine children. As a four-year-old, I can still see it before my eyes: my father, weeping, sitting at the back of a truck with my older siblings, while we children followed in a car driving toward Egypt. We fled with nothing but the clothes on our backs, after almost all the inhabitants of the suburbs were killed by the Israelis following the declaration of the State of Israel. This is a fact, ladies and gentlemen. Otherwise, my father would never have left his businesses, plantation, and houses behind so easily.
And this happened despite the fact that the Declaration of Independence of the State of Israel emphasized, and I quote: 'The State will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.'
Ladies and gentlemen, nothing of this was kept. Almost one million people were displaced, thousands murdered. Not a single UN resolution for the rights of Palestinians was followed. Slowly, after 78 years, a true apartheid state has developed, complete with separation walls, hundreds of checkpoints, and illegal settlements. And what is so tragic now is that 75% of Israelis support the continuation of the war, and 50% speak in favor of the displacement of all Palestinians.
Ladies and gentlemen, my friends, this stance, this attitude must NOT be rewarded. This Israeli government, with its atrocities in the name of self-defense, must NOT be allowed to wash its hands clean here in Vienna.
May 5th was the commemoration day for the liberation of Mauthausen. On that occasion, it is always emphasized: 'NEVER AGAIN.' Yes, my friends, NEVER, NEVER AGAIN for all peoples.
I thank you."
source:
https://www.palaestinasolidaritaet.at/2026-05-20-rede-von-dr-sami-ayad/