italy 2009

 

 

Some 30,000 Jews live in Italy out of a total population of 57 million. The largest communities are in Rome (15,000) and Milan (10,000).

Two major events provoked strong responses in 2009 and had important political consequences. The first was Israel’s invasion of Gaza and the second was related to the Catholic Church, which generated further tensions in the already difficult relationship between the Holy See and the Jewish community and Israel.

            Thousands of people, mostly radical Muslims and extreme left activists displaying banners equating the Star of David with the swastika and waving Hamas flags participated in anti-Israel demonstrations during Operation Cast Lead. Graffiti calling for the destruction of the State of Israel, swastikas and antisemitic insults were also sprayed on private and public buildings throughout the country. Comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany were a running theme. Banners carried by the demonstrators bore slogans such “Let’s stop the massacre by the Israeli Nazi-Zionist regime supported by the Italian government,” and “You complain about the Holocaust but in 2009 Gaza is undergoing a Holocaust caused by you.” In Mestre five hooded youths broke into the headquarters of the Israeli shipping company Zim and smeared the offices with antisemitic graffiti.

            As in other European countries, extreme right groups joined the anti-Israel campaign. The antisemitic group Militia (see also below), for example, hung banners on shops around Italy calling to boycott Israel. The provincial secretary of Flaica – Uniti − a large-scale retail and catering trade union in Rome with some 8,000 members − proposed drawing up a list of all Jewish-owned shops in Rome and boycotting them.

 On the other hand, speaking on Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27 – following Israel’s Cast Lead operation in Gaza – president of the Italian Republic Giorgio Napolitano emphasized the importance of maintaining a clear distinction between criticism regarding Israeli government policy and denial, whether explicit or implied, of the historical bases for the State of Israel, its right to exist in security, and its democratic nature.

            A decision of Pope Benedictus XVI in January 2009 to lift the excommunication order imposed on four schismatic bishops, all members of the Society of St. Pius X, including Holocaust denier, British bishop Richard Williamson, prompted angry Jewish reactions. The Jewish community in Italy, Jewish organizations worldwide and the Israeli government expressed their disappointment over the Vatican decision. Shortly before the announcement to revoke the order, Williamson, who like the other three bishops was ordained by ultra-traditionalist dissident Monsignor Marcel Lefebvre, had denied the existence of gas chambers during an interview to a Swedish TV channel. “I believe that gas chambers never existed,” he said. I think that some 200.000−300.000 Jews died in concentration camps, but none in gas chambers.” After reports accusing Williamson of Holocaust denial attracted widespread media coverage, the Vatican declared that “in order to be accepted for Episcopal functions within the Church,” Williamson would have to dissociate himself, “in an absolutely unequivocal and public fashion from his position on the Shoah, which the Holy Father was not aware of when the excommunication was lifted.”

            In 2009, the Observatory on Anti-Jewish Prejudice of the CDEC Foundation recorded 53 antisemitic manifestations, fewer than in 2008 (69). As in previous years, they were expressed mainly in the media, in antisemitic graffiti, and in insulting emails to Jewish institutions and posts on web forums. Wall graffiti made up the bulk of the incidents (20), and was often accompanied by swastikas and crosses. Many graffiti messages praised Hitler and the extermination of the Jews. There was a slight increase in incidents in which Jews were targeted as individuals, such as graffiti on the walls of houses and businesses owned by Jews (see below).

            There were five acts of vandalism, all in January during Israel’s operation in Gaza. The abovementioned far right Militia, for example, also sealed and padlocked 22 Jewish-owned shops. In Florence a small rudimentary explosive device was placed in front of Chabad House, on Via dei Pilastri, a few dozen meters from a synagogue. It was found before it exploded. The words “Zionist murderer” were sprayed in red paint on the entrance gate to the home of the vice president of the Italy-Israel Association, Emanuel Segre Amar. The offenders scattered dozens of leaflets calling to “Free Palestine.”

            In Trieste, on two consecutive days in March, two envelopes containing, respectively, a bullet and a letter – handwritten in capitals – were found in the mailbox of the Casa delle culture in Via Orlandini. The letter stated, among other things, that “Bolsheviks, Titoists, lynch-mob spirits, Jacobins, Communists, radicalists, friends of Arabs, Muslims, Africans, niggers, Jews, non-EU citizens, Romanians, Slavs, Slovenians, Roma and all other sub-species of ethnic groups should go to the Risiera [Risiera di San Sabba, Italian concentration camp during the Nazi era].”

            The results of the June 2009 European Parliamentary and local administrative elections showed a decline for the two major parties, PD (Partito Democratico) and PDL (Silvio Berlusconi’s Il Popolo della Libertà), which still holds a relative majority, and a major swing toward the Catholic fundamentalist-inclined, autonomist, ethno-regionalist Lega Nord (10 percent of the national vote) and the centrist, populist, anti-corruption Italia dei Valori (8 percent). It should be noted that the xenophobic, populist Lega Nord emphasizes that references to Christian principles should be included among the stated foundational values of Europe. Strongly opposed to integrating the Islamic minority into Italian society and to the construction of mosques, the Lega Nord criticized the Archdiocese of Milan for what it sees as excessive support for the rights of immigrants, “extracommunitarians” and gypsies.

In April, the strongly Christian, family-centered, anti-European and anti-globalization Forza Nuova organized a convention of the European far right, focusing on “Peoples and Traditions against Banks and Major Powers.” The French Front National and the British National Party were among major European extreme right parties that were represented. The event was condemned by the Jewish community and by a broad political spectrum ranging from the UDC (Unione dei Democratici Cristiani e di Centro), a moderate party with Catholic values, to leftist parties, such as the PD, and from the National Association of Italian Partisans to the left-wing Italian General Labor Confederation. Forza’s national secretary Roberto Fiore obtained only 0.47 of the national vote in the Euro-Parliamentary elections. The movement’s roots date back to the pre-WWII Romanian fascist Iron Guard.

While members of the Casa Pound Italia (CPI) ­− who call themselves “fascists of the third millennium” − intermix themes of traditional leftist movements (such as community space, quality living conditions in large urban areas, the environment, student activism, and nationalization of industry and land) with fascist ideology, their objective is to spread an extreme rightist culture through social and cultural activities such as Nazi rock concerts. Blocco Studentesco, the CPI student movement in secondary schools and universities, obtained over 28 percent of the vote at the 2009 student elections for the Rome Provincial Student Council.

The extreme right Militia includes approximately fifty militants concentrated in the Castelli Romani area, where the group’s leader Maurizio Boccacci comes from. Boccacci, a founding father of the extreme right, had previously launched Movimento Politico and later Base Autonoma (see ASW 2008). Throughout the year the Militia displayed antisemitic and anti-Zionist banners (such as “Alemanno [mayor of Rome] Zionist rogue, Pacifici [president of the Jewish Community of Rome] is your whore”), some of which also praised the Iranian regime (such as “Honor to Ahmadinejad, true light of anti-Zionism”).

Among the far left parties, the Communist Workers Party (PCL) is extremely anti-Israel. On January 4, PCL secretary Marco Ferrando stated: “The PCL feels committed to fully supporting the armed resistance of the Palestinian people against the occupation troops of the Zionist state… The PCL declares itself proudly anti-Zionist… closing that page in the history of colonialism that gave birth to the State of Israel in 1948 using methods of terror and ethnic cleansing against the Arabs.”

Thule-toscana, a website that spread racist theories and Holocaust denial ideas, was removed from the server by the Arezzo legal authorities for violation of the anti-racism Mancino law. Five interconnected websites (based in Arezzo, Florence, the USA and two in Milan) were also gagged.

In regard to an investigation into the video "KlausCondicio sul sito holywar.org," transmitted on YouTube and containing a list of surnames of Italian citizens of Jewish origin, postal and communications police chief Sergio Staro stated that “even if the website is based in Norway, the list is published in Italian and so there is a clear violation of privacy.”

In January, a request for a parliamentary inquiry into antisemitic acts was presented by PDL deputies Fiamma Nirenstein, Giuseppe Calderisi and Benedetto Della Vedova, among others.