Portugal // Surf retreat for perpetrators of genocide in Ericeira~ 23 min

By Francisco Ulrike

Another summer kicks off in Portugal, a country turned not only into an amusement park for rich northern Europeans, but also into a so-called dream destination for IDF soldiers, who come here to rest and take some time off from the crimes they commit in Palestine, Lebanon, and Iran.

Falling in line with this trend, a particularly shameless event was set to take place in Ericeira: a surf and yoga retreat, tailored specifically to israelis, and organized by a known and self-confessed war criminal – Shimon Avi Zuckerman. While this article was still being written, the said war criminal announced that the event would be postponed to a future, unannounced date. The reason for the cancellation boiled down to the cancellation of direct flights between Lisbon and tel aviv due to the ongoing imperialist war against Iran. As it is possible that this retreat – or other events organized by this war criminal – may still take place at a later date, we decided to go forward with this publication.

With events like this, Portugal goes from being a place where electronic music festivals and other shanti-shanti events are full of war criminals that tap their feet to the beat while speaking of “peace and love”, to host initiatives exclusively for genociders who want to take a break from the horrid reality they themselves created.

The surf retreat planned for Ericeira

Organized by Shimon Avi Zuckerman, a German-israeli zionist settler accused by the Hind Rajab Foundation of a long list of war crimes, the retreat was planned to take place between July 5^th-17^th in the “dreamiest surfing town in Europe.” The event was promoted as a retreat that combines “waves, movement, workshops, yoga, and good people.”

The event’s official website, which lists Zuckerman and his wife, Michal, as the retreat’s official organizers, is available exclusively in Hebrew, making it clear who the event’s target audience is. Ericeira is described as “a place with an atmosphere of freedom, perfect waves, and parties” just 6 hours from tel aviv on a direct flight, and is sold as an ideal destination due to its “comfort and European cleanliness,” which they contrast with “‘Third-World’ conditions” of other geographies.

In addition to being an IDF soldier, Shimon Zuckerman is also a surf instructor and a professional retreat organizer – because, as we all know, exterminating Palestinians and demolishing entire villages goes well with events centred on peace and mindfulness. In Shimon’s own words:

I’ve travelled to about 50 countries, taught surfing in israel, hosted retreats in Georgia and Sri Lanka, and for years I’ve dreamed of starting a surfing retreat that would combine personal development, good people, and waves. So, I’m excited that it’s finally happening!

Zuckerman on the retreat’s official website

Wait for the chapter on Shimon’s war crimes and then try to figure out what words like “personal development” and “good people” could possibly mean to this genocidaire.

His wife, Michal, who acquired Portuguese citizenship through Sephardic laws last March, is a “dance and movement instructor” and says she has spent “a decade on the biggest stages in the country”, which can be translated to: “I made my career entertaining settlers in occupied Palestine.” Michal says she brings “energy, liberation, and self-expression through the body –where the magic happens.” In typical israeli fashion, she uses this new-age language that strips words like “liberation” of all meaning, while her husband “liberates” Palestinians by turning them into dead bodies.

What a source of great pride it is to see people like this being welcomed with open arms in Portugal. And they were so warmly received when they came to “experience everything firsthand,” that they decided to hold the retreat here and had no trouble finding event partners. On the event’s website, they claim to work “with the best [surf] schools in Ericeira” and note that lodging would be at the FLH Hotels in Ericeira, a “luxurious boutique hotel in the town centre – a perfect combination of European comfort, warm design and personal service” and “rich breakfasts” – the kind of lavish breakfasts that Palestinians in Gaza have never tasted.

And how much will each of the 6-day programs cost at this retreat combining surf lessons, yoga, meditation, “development” workshops, hip-hop classes, and “intuitive writing,” plus concerts and plenty of partying? A modest €1,440, which includes neither travel nor lunches and dinners. In other words, a vacation week with fellow genocidaires in Portugal’s surf paradise costs at least €2,000. Apparently, being a genocidal settler pays well.

Zuckerman’s Crimes and Atrocities

Shimon Avi Zuckerman took part in the ongoing genocide in the Gaza as a member of the 8219 Engineer Battalion of the israeli army’s 551st Brigade, and has been accused by the Hind Rajab Foundation of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.

The Hind Rajab Foundation’s criminal complaint, filed last year with the German Federal Prosecutor General, was accompanied by a 164-page report compiling an extensive list of crimes committed by Zuckerman, many of which were documented and shared on social media by himself.

On his Instagram account, he shared extensive footage and images from the battlefield — not only of his presence and actions in combat zones, but specifically of the destruction of Palestinian civilian infrastructure.

The complaint identifies Zuckerman visually in multiple videos and posts as he detonates or celebrates demolitions of residential buildings. The posts often include graphic scenes of destruction, paired with celebratory gestures such as smoking shisha, cheering with fellow soldiers, or posing for the camera before and after explosions. (…)

Footage posted by Zuckerman shows him directly triggering demolitions, cheering with comrades, and documenting the destruction as a form of performance. In one instance, he is seen posing and laughing as buildings collapse behind him. In another, a techno-themed video clip shows him initiating an explosion without wearing a helmet — indicating a non-combat situation and a lack of military necessity.

From “HRF Files Criminal Complaint in Germany Against Dual National IDF Soldier Shimon Avi Zuckerman”

A Washington Post article published in December 2024 examined this abject practice, so common in the ranks of the IDF, of israeli soldiers documenting and openly bragging about their own crimes. At the time, Shimon Avi Zuckerman, who had already posted “videos showing detonations of at least two dozen buildings,” and who had been advised by the IDF to stop doing so, told the Washington Post:

I took these videos to raise the morale of the people at home, and I don’t regret it for a moment.

This is the man who organizes events combining “personal development” and “good people.”

Total Demolition of the Village of Khuza’a

Among the many atrocities perpetrated by Zuckerman in the Gaza Strip, his participation in Operation “Nir and Oz” stands out, during which the village of Khuza’a, east of Khan Younis, was entirely demolished. Before 2023, around 5,000 Palestinians lived in Khuza’a.

Zuckerman’s unit — the 8219 Engineer Battalion — played a central role in the destruction of this civilian area, reducing homes, schools, mosques, a water station, and a community building to rubble.

From “HRF Files Criminal Complaint in Germany Against Dual National IDF Soldier Shimon Avi Zuckerman”

The village of Khuza’a is where the young Palestinian writer Abdallah Qudaih and his family lived before the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip. Abdallah wrote about Khuza’a in the first article he penned for Guilhotina:

Before the war, I lived in Khuza’a, east of Khan Younis. A farming town. Quiet. Steady. My father had a clothing shop in the market. We owned agricultural land across different areas greenhouses full of tomatoes, fields of wheat and peas. We raised sheep, chickens, ducks. Before and after school, I fed the animals. We had a dog who guarded the farm. I loved him. We lost him in the war.

We were not poor. We were not desperate. We had land, work, dignity, routine.

Now the house is gone.
The land is inaccessible.
The farm is destroyed.

Abdallah Qudaih in “Beneath What Remains“

Beneath What Remains

We would like to take this opportunity to recommend the other two articles by Abdallah Qudaih that we’ve since published, which you can find here. You can also support him in surviving the ongoing genocide by purchasing his book about his experience during the first two years of the genocide (information on other ways to contribute here).

The Complicit Passivity of the Portuguese Authorities

Shimon Zuckerman and Michal came to Portugal to “experience everything firsthand” before deciding to organize their retreat in Ericeira. But they are not, by any stretch, the first israeli war criminals to do so.

In July 2025, the Hind Rajab Foundation filed a criminal complaint in Portugal against israeli sniper Dani Adonya Adega, who also took part in the genocide in Gaza and was, at the time, in Lisbon. Since then, the presence of israeli war criminals on Portuguese soil has continued to be exposed by social media users (examples here and here). We ourselves, in an article about Anta Gathering and other festivals in Portugal frequented by IDF soldiers, exposed the widespread participation of israeli soldiers and genocide apologists in various festivals (from Anta Gathering to Insomnia, Boom and the River Riders Gathering). The Comité de Solidariedade com a Palestina (Palestine Solidarity Committee) identified at least 3 members of the IDF who took part in the genocide in Gaza and attended Boom: Gil Cohavi (Boom, genocide), Ziv Elkayam (Boom, genocide), and Amos Iluz (Boom, genocide).

In view of all this, the Portuguese Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Portuguese justice system failed to take any action against the self-confessed war criminals accused by the Hind Rajab Foundation (like Zuckerman and Dani Adega), and against the endless stream of israeli soldiers who come to Portugal to attend festivals. If authorities just stood at the doors of the ZNA Gathering, Insomnia, and the Being Gathering, they would find dozens of perpetrators of genocide. Likewise, if the Portuguese authorities examined the tens of thousands of israelis that were granted Portuguese citizenship in recent years through the Sephardic law, there would surely be no shortage of people who bragged on their social media about the crimes they committed in Gaza and Lebanon – most of which are crimes of universal jurisdiction and, therefore, eligible for prosecution in any Portuguese court.

The passivity of the Portuguese authorities toward war criminals is so systematic that it goes far beyond mere inaction, and arguably constitutes active complicity in ensuring international impunity for perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.

In stark contrast, on June 18th, Portugal’s National Counterterrorism Unit of the Criminal Investigation Police (PJ) raided the homes of several people allegedly linked to the Collective for the Liberation of Palestine. The PJ executed four search warrants following an investigation by the Almada DIAP [Almada’s District Department of Criminal Investigation and Prosecution]. During the raids, they confiscated personal belongings and took in several people in for questioning.

In regimes like ours, you’re more likely to see the storm troops of imperialism break down your door for expressing solidarity with Palestine than to see a judge issue an arrest warrant against a soldier who took part in the ongoing genocides in the Gaza Strip and South Lebanon.

Speaking about the complicity of judicial authorities, it’s worth mentioning that the 2025 criminal complaint filed by the Hind Rajab Foundation against Zuckerman was dismissed by the Federal Public Prosecutor General of Germany in April 2026. In fact, the case was closed without any investigation. Reacting to that decision, the Hind Rajab Foundation stated:

The dismissal represents a deliberate act of state complicity. Zuckerman is not merely a suspect; he is a German citizen who is fully aware of his alleged crimes and has openly called upon the israeli state to shield him from prosecution. (…) Germany is not just failing to act. It is complicit in the genocide by continuing its long-standing policy of defending israel and its perpetrators, thereby creating a safe haven for German nationals accused of the most serious international crimes. (…)

By accepting a suspect’s self-serving narrative as the basis for dismissal, the Prosecutor has abdicated the state’s duty to uncover the truth and transformed the Federal Prosecutor’s office from a guardian of justice into a shield for genocide. (…)

Germany’s failure to prosecute Zuckerman is not an isolated procedural and legal error. It is a systemic failure that enables the continuation of the genocide.

From “Hind Rajab Foundation Files Disciplinary Complaint Against Senior Federal Public Prosecutor for Shielding German Citizen Shimon Zuckerman from Genocide Charges”

The reality appears stark naked for all to see: the German state, the Portuguese state, the United Kingdom, and most Western states are zionist regimes, in which committing genocide is a protected right, and confronting Jewish supremacy can lead to years in prison. 

On Postponements, Cancellations, and Manoeuvres

The announcement that Zuckerman’s Ericeira retreat had been postponed was made by the war criminal himself on his social media, just a week short of the retreat’s intended start. In his Instagram video, he explains that the postponement was driven by flight cancellations in Tel Aviv due to the imperialist war against Iran. Indeed, a quick search shows that there are currently no direct flights from tel aviv to Lisbon, which makes it likely that the reason provided for the postponement is genuine. However, as various kinds of strategies are enacted to take the heat off zionist events, it’s worth taking a closer look at some aspects of this specific case.

Immediately after the retreat was first publicly denounced by the collective Ericeira for Palestine, several social media users commented that, upon contacting the FLH Hotels in Ericeira, they had been informed that the hotel had refused to host the event. At the time, one user stated that they had spoken on the phone with someone at the hotel who told them that “they refused to host the event from the moment they became aware of the situation.” In another phone call made days later by a different person, the hotel’s owner stated that Zuckerman’s reservation had been cancelled due to a lack of payment a few weeks prior.

Things already seemed odd at this point. It had to be one or the other: either the hotel refused to host the retreat groups “from the moment they became aware of the situation,” or the reservation was cancelled several weeks earlier due to lack of payment. To clear our doubts, we tried calling the hotel several times. When our call was finally answered, this whole situation grew even more suspicious.

The person who answered was an employee who told us that management was unavailable that day. When the surf retreat was mentioned, the response was immediate and categorical: “There was never any reservation. They put that up [the hotel’s photos on the retreat website] without our knowledge.” Later in the conversation, the employee reiterated that “we never had anything booked by any group for those dates,” suggesting that it could have been a strategy by the retreat’s organizers to deflect attention from them, while having booked lodging elsewhere in Ericeira. While that could be a plausible hypothesis, there are also several factors suggesting that the reality may be something entirely different.

On one hand, when facing members of the public and journalists, the hotel went to great lengths to distance itself from the retreat. Yet, they presented a different story to each person who called or wrote to ask about the matter (the reservation never existed; or it was cancelled when they became aware of the situation; or it was cancelled weeks earlier for lack of payment). On the other hand, the hotel has not published any public statement distancing itself from the retreat, despite claiming that the retreat organizers used the hotel’s name and photographs without any authorization or communication.

If we had organized a physical training program and conference series featuring the Iranian ambassador and representatives of the PFLP, Hamas, and the Polisario Front, advertising that lodging would be at an FLH Hotel, we’re willing to bet that the hotel chain would waste no time distancing itself from the event with a public statement, and denouncing the unauthorized use of the hotel’s photographs. The question that arises is: why didn’t the chain do so for an event organized by a war criminal?

It’s also important to underline that, in several instances surrounding zionist events, news circulated via social media have provided the illusion of a victory for the Palestine movement – whether announcements of event cancellations or of israelis withdrawing their participation. Often, the only goal of these moves is to demobilise the solidarity efforts, just to then have the events proceed as planned, or with minor adjustments. Consider just two cases from the last two years in Portugal:

• In November 2024, the 10th global forum of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, held at the Estoril Congress Centre, announced the cancellation of the participation of a former israeli foreign minister. Once the on-site protest had been called off, the ex-minister’s participation proceeded as planned. At the time, the Palestine Solidarity Committee condemned the forum’s organizers for resorting to “diversionary manoeuvres to deceive activists in solidarity with Palestine.”

• Last year, after a massive outreach campaign demanding that local authorities take measures to stop the Anta Gathering, an event organized by an israeli who served in the IDF during the ongoing genocide, the festival was cancelled. While the festival was indeed cancelled, several artists listed on Anta’s lineup ended up playing at an improvised party at another venue in the same area on those very same dates, in what some of them referred to as “Plan B.” In other words, despite drawing only a fraction of the initially expected crowd, Anta did, in a way, end up happening – just in a smaller, more intimate context.

Restricting political action to email campaigns, phone calls, and social media posts has a clear limitation: solidarity activists are rarely on the ground, verifying whether what’s announced materializes, and directly confronting the very thing they claim to oppose.

As for Zuckerman’s retreat in Ericeira, while it’s impossible to be certain, it’s quite likely that it has indeed been postponed for now. But what’s alarming is that the retreat may end up taking place at some point in the future, once direct flights between occupied Palestine and Lisbon resume. Perhaps next time, without any public announcement from Zuckerman and Michal. And, given everything we’ve laid out above, it’s not far-fetched to consider the possibility that they end up staying at the FLH Hotels after all.

The only way to ensure this doesn’t happen is for those in Ericeira to remain vigilant.

How to avoid IDF soldiers organizing events in your city or town

If we understand that Portuguese authorities are themselves zionist – and complicit actors in the ongoing genocides –, we will quickly arrive at the conclusion that sending emails appealing to the moral sense of these authorities is the same as talking to a wall.

With a few exceptions, the only material outcome of online campaigns is forcing an intern at this or that ministry to spend a few hours deleting emails – or dedicate 5 minutes to create a filter flagging all emails with the words “retreat,” “surf,” “Ericeira,” or “Zuckerman” as spam. Same goes for tagging ministries, the public attorney, or whatever politician on Instagram – all those accounts are managed by interns, and not by those making decisions.

But there are ways to make our cities and towns less welcoming to events organized by and for perpetrators of genocide. Note that Shimon and Michal, before even organizing their postponed retreat, came to Portugal and visited Ericeira. They recorded several promotional videos for their event to show their fellow settlers in occupied Palestine how spectacular this surfing town is, just 40 minutes from Lisbon. Imagine if, while they were here, they had encountered posters of Yahya Sinwar, Abu Obeida, Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, Qassem Soleiman, and Ali Khamenei. It’s difficult to imagine that they would have recorded those promotional videos and described Ericeira as a dreamy destination.

And if the past is something that can’t be changed, it’s also true that the future is a book full of blank pages waiting to be written. Assuming that Zuckerman’s retreat does take place sometime in the next two months, imagine if genocidal surf lovers step foot in Ericeira and find every street plastered with images of the very resistance leaders that the zionist regime has attempted to obliterate from the face of the Earth with their powerful bombs, their demolitions of Palestinian villages and cities, and their uninterrupted massacres that have resulted in the death of hundreds of thousands of people over the last three years alone.

In Ericeira and elsewhere, we don’t need to wait for an event organized by war criminals to decorate the streets and walls with what the zionists most hate. In fact, doing so is the best ‘vaccine’ to prevent your city or town from being turned into a dream destination for genociders. Take Coimbra as an example, where the constant presence of pro-resistance posters and stickers made the zionist media present the city, on multiple occasions, as a beacon of antisemitism. It’s hard to imagine a better way to keep zionists at bay from our communities. 

Well, actually, there is a better way. If our reactions to these events left the virtual world – emails, social media posts, tags in angry comments, or drawn-out articles – and instead translated into our material reality, if those perpetrating genocide were confronted face-to-face (even without physical violence), if we denied them that peace they seek, they would quickly stop seeing Portugal as a good place to wind down from committing genocide.

All this, it goes without saying, assuming we are not willing to drop our Portuguese “mild manners”. If, in this country, israelis faced what they have faced in in Thailand or Greece, Zuckerman surely wouldn’t have described our country as “one of the safest countries in the world.”