Luxembourg Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel was heckled during his Wednesday afternoon appearance at the NEXUS summit due to the inclusion of Israel-based tech start-ups.
In a clip that has surfaced on various social media platforms, an activist from the audience confronts Bettel during his discussion on 'Humanity at the Helm: Building an AI Future that Works for all', asking: "What about companies in Israel?".
In an unexpected outburst, Bettel responded that he is aware of the protest taking place outside of the event's location and the protest condemning the event's inclusion of Israeli companies.
Bettel continued: "She [the activist] doesn't like that we have invited Israeli companies here."
Dismissing the criticism and justifying the decision to include the companies as they are "not companies for defence", he claimed that "to punish all Israelis because of their government, you do not understand, it's like banning all the Jewish people. Not all the Jewish people are to blame because of the actions of a government."
He was quick to shut the activist down, telling her to "please be quiet" and to not "blame young start-ups who also want to do something for their country".
The activist, in Bettel's words, is not helping her cause and Bettel claimed to be "trying to help her".
Bettel concluded by suggesting that the activist is making a mistake by being against working with Israelis altogether, comparing a protest measure with the atrocities of the Second World War.
The activist claims in the video that some of the start-ups "have cooperated with the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] during the genocide [in Gaza]."
RTL Today could confirm that four start-ups taking part in NEXUS 2026 are based in Israel. The NEXUS summit is the "Grand Duchy's flagship tech event", gathering budding tech start-ups "to accelerate AI and technology for a better tomorrow" and providing a platform for companies and stakeholders to learn about the tech world's latest tech innovations.
