Juergen Boos' reaction to Slavoj Žižek's speech at the Opening Ceremony of the 75th Frankfurter Buchmesse

Slavoj Žižek's speech at the Opening Ceremony of the 75th Frankfurter Buchmesse has provoked strong reactions. Juergen Boos, Director of Frankfurter Buchmesse, spontaneously took the floor after Žižek's speech and addressed the audience in the Frankfurt Congress Centre:

"It is the freedom of the word. And we have to leave that freedom as it is, this is important to me. I think for this community, and I would like to call it one community, I think I can speak on this community’s behalf: We condemn terror. We are humans and we think in human terms on the Israeli side and on the Palestinian side.

And it is important to me to understand that we all agree on condemning inhumanity, in condemning terror. And I think you are all with me on that. And I am glad that we can express it this way here. I am also glad about somebody interrupting a speech. This must be possible.

I am glad that we listened to the speech to the very end, even if we may not like it.
Even if we even condemn it, it is important that we listen to each other."

Earlier today at the Opening Press Conference, Juergen Boos emphasized:

"Since 7th October, we have been experiencing a new, terrible peak in the escalation of violence in Israel. Our thoughts are with the victims, their relatives and all the people who are suffering in Israel and Palestine under the terror of Hamas and under this war. We are horrified. Frankfurter Buchmesse is always about humanity, human encounters are at the centre. But this humanity has been shattered once again."