Dan Sobovitz (Hebrew: דן סובוביץ) is an Israeli-European democracy and human rights activist, public speaker, stage and podcast moderator, ^{[1] [2]} communication adviser for international organisations, and tech evangelist. ^{[3] [4]} He became known for having organised the private, EU-supported operation to provide medications for the 7 October hostages and for Palestinian children, ^{[5] [6]} for campaigning for the release of the Israeli hostages, ^[7] for fighting democratic backsliding in Israel and across Europe and for and seeking legal action on the rights of same-sex parents. He also gained attention for unorthodox events he conceptualised and moderated for European Commission Executive Vice President Maros Sefcovic, including live streaming from autonomous vehicles, virtual reality of the launch of EU satellites into space, and crowdsourcing EU policies among startups and youth.

Early life and education

Sobovitz was born in Israel and raised in Karnei Shomron, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank to a modern-Orthodox Jewish family. ^[7] He attended boys school yeshiva throughout his elementary and high school education.

In his adulthood, he joined Israel's “peace camp”, and testified having voted in favour of Ehud Olmert's 2006 electoral program to withdraw Israel from the West Bank where Sobovitz grew up, implying the destruction of his parents’ house and community - in exchange for peace. ^{[8] [9]} Sobovitz also stopped observing Orthodox Judaism, began leading a Secular lifestyle and came out as gay.

His journey from the settlement to his Brussels EU life is told a short semidocumentary film, made by his brother for Israel's Documentary Channel.

Sobovitz holds degrees in Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies from Tel Aviv University  and Sciences Po Paris, a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University ^[10] in New York and a Master in Public Policy from the Hertie School in Berlin. ^{[11] [12]}

Activism

Hostages

In February 2024, the IDF Spokesperson announced that medications for the Israeli hostages were found in the Nasser hospital in Gaza. ^[13] Sobovitz went public with several members of the hostage families, revealing they stood behind the operation which involved delivering the medications on EU DG ECHO flights from Europe to Al Arish in Egypt, before delivering them into Gaza. As opposed to the message from the IDF, Sobovitz and his peers insist they have evidence showing it is highly likely the medications were delivered to the hostages. ^[13]

In October 2023, Sobovitz set up the European Office for the October 7 Hostages (EO7/10H) as part of the Brussels Secular Jewish Community Centre (CCLJ). E07/10H started raising awareness in Europe in the immediate aftermath of October 7, while flights in and out of Israel were still scarce - by setting a stage for hostage family members who were already in Europe. The E07/10H organized a rally for the release of the hostages in front of the European Parliament on October 11 with the participation of European Parliament Vice President Nicola Beer and hostage family members. ^{[14] [15]} Sobovitz and the E07/10H also organised immediate meetings for the family members with EU, UN, ICRC, national leadership including: European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, European Council President Charles Michel, Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte, President of the ICRC Mirjana Spoljaric Eggerhi, Foreign Minister of Spain José Manuel Albares, political leaders in the European Parliament, US and UK ambassadors to the UN and others. ^{[16] [17]}

In April 2024, the Belgian Jewish umbrella organisation, CCOJB and Forum der Joodse Organisaties sent a letter to Belgian Prime Minister De Croo, condemning the Belgian reaction to Israel in light of the War in Gaza, calling it an act against Belgian Jews. ^[18]  Sobovitz co-authored a response letter, also addressed at De Croo, criticising the CCOJB FJO letter and asking De Croo to keep his foreign policy separate from his fight against antisemitism, arguing criticism against the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu should not be considered antisemitic; linking Belgian Jews to the Netanyahu policies risks exacerbating antisemitism rather than combating it. ^[19]

Israeli Democracy

In March 2023, in light of the mass demonstrations in Israel and around the world against the judicial coup of the Israeli government, Sobovitz organised demonstrations, conferences, and public and closed events in and around the EU institutions to bring the topic to the attention of the EU leadership. ^{[20] [21]} He argued that even if the “judicial reforms” are considered an internal political affair, the relations between Israel and the EU are explicitly based on “common democratic values”. ^[22] As such, the EU has the authority and moral obligation to express its concern on the demise of Israeli democracy. ^[23]

In September 2023, Sobovitz co-authored an op-ed, cosigned by European opinion-makers, in support of the Israeli protests and announcing the creation of DemoCrisis. The op-ed was published in English ^[24] and in Hebrew by Haaretz, ^[25] French by Belgium's Le Soir, ^[26] and France's Libération, ^[27] Polish by Gazeta Wyborcza, ^[28] Hungarian by Népszava ^[29] and German by Euractiv. It was co-signed by French-American journalist Anne Sinclaire, Members of European Parliament VP Marc Angel (Luxembourg) and Róża Thun (Poland), Karima Delli (France); Members of national parliaments Dr. Tamas Harangozo (Hungary), Boris Dittrich (Netherlands), Polish civil activists of the Maria Ejchart, Sylwia Gregorczyk-Abram, Michał Wawrykiewicz, Paulina Kieszkowska-Knapik of the Polish Free Courts Initiative and others.

European Democracy

The resemblance in the struggles to maintain democratic principles in Israel and in other European countries, led to the creation of DemoCrisis, a civil society platform Sobovitz founded in order to create cooperation between civil society organisations fighting for the same cause in different countries. ^{[30] [31]}

The platform then officially launched in October 2023 with a solidarity march in Brussels, before a conference within the European Parliament. ^[32] Two ex-Vice Presidents of the European Parliament, Marc Angel and Othmar Karas were in attendance, and professed their support for the mission. ^[32]

Rainbow families and LGBT rights

Sobovitz and his husband, Grégory Merly, are parents to two children via surrogacy. ^{[33] [34]} At the time of birth, both were EU officials. Sobovitz was working in the European Commission as adviser to Vice President Maros Sefcovic and Merly in the European Parliament, advising MEP Karima Delli. The Commission back then only allowed female staff to take paid parental leave. ^[35] By appealing to the Commission's political level and involving the EU Ombudsman, ^[36]  Sobovitz managed to challenge the HR rules and was the first male staff to be granted paid parental in the Commission's history. ^[37] The precedent, approved by Commission VP Sefcovic, created controversy back in Slovakia where far-right coalition members called to end the VP's term as European Commissioner for his recognition of his staffer's same-sex relationship. ^{[38] [39]} Meanwhile, the European Parliament who refused categorically to allow male staff to take paid parental leave, therefore Merly's request was rejected. ^[40] The two sued the European Parliament in the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg for discrimination. ^[41] They lost the case on procedural grounds, where the Parliament was able to convince the court it lacked mandate as the couple failed to exhaust all remedies within the Parliament before seeking the Court. According to the position of the Parliament, which the Court maintained, in order to exhaust all options, the parents should have waited for the birth of the children, requested paid leave, have the request rejected, appeal, have the appeal rejected, and only then would the Court have the competence to intervene. ^[41]

In 2019 the family challenged the Israeli authorities who refused to grant Israeli citizenship to both legal children but only to the one with the biological link to Israeli Sobovitz. ^[42] They also challenged the Swiss authorities to recognise the children of Swiss citizen Sobovitz. Subsequently, in 2020, while the family lived in Berlin, they challenged the German Foreign Office for refusing to grant the children a visa, due to the lack of the German authorities’ recognition in the same-sex structure of the family (which was established under US law).

In 2021, Sobovitz testified in front of the European Parliament on the fights of Rainbow Families as part of a petition filed by NELFA. ^[43] In 2024, Sobovitz challenged the Belgian city of St Gilles for refusing to register his (now French citizen) children due to lack of recognition of the same-sex parenthood. According to a Brussels Times article, the EU Belgian Presidency blocked a European Commission legislative proposal which would have resolved the issue of recognition of same-sex parenthood across EU borders. ^[44]

Professional career

In 2020, Sobovitz founded his own agency, spreadable.io ^[2] which focuses on his event and conference moderation and production. Since September 2021 he also serves as a senior adviser of BCW.

Since 2022, Sobovitz is the managing director of the European Startup Prize for mobility, ^[45] Europe's largest acceleration programme for clean mobility startups.

Sobovitz moderates events, conferences, and awards mostly for EU institutions, tech events, and civil society organisations. He is known for his very informal tone and using digital tools for audience engagement. ^[46] He has made wide use of what he calls EU policy crowdsourcing, where a target audience is invited to ‘pitch’ policy ideas to an EU leader.

Events he has moderated include EU Space Week, Brussels Times conferences, EU Youth Week, Huawei Academia Salon, ^[47] EU Startup Prize for Mobility, Viva Tech, Beautiful Software Awards, Michelin Movin'On Challenge, EU OSOR, Autonomy, German Federal Government Code4Greem hackathon and others. ^[48] He is the host and producer of the ‘What were they thinking?’ podcast, telling the story of ‘Europe's most promising clean mobility startups’. ^[49]

Between 2015 and 2020 Sobovitz served as speechwriter of European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic. ^[50] His work was noted by making use of unorthodox methods and technologies, including livestreaming from autonomous vehicles and solar planes, VR of the launch of EU satellites into space, and crowdsourcing new EU policy ideas among youth startups. ^{[51] [52]} Prior to that he was the Editor-in-Chief and of the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Department (DG ECHO), and has worked as copy-writer and editor

Sobovitz is adviser and initiator and co-founder several human rights organisations, namely the DemoCrisis civil society platform, ^[30] and Belgian organisation Ceci n’est pas une crise. ^[53] He is also a board member of the Brussels Secular Jewish Community Centre (CCLJ) ^[54] where he established the European Office for the release of the hostages, ^[55] and the African Dialogue and Inclusion Center. ^[56]

References

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