Italy, a surge of hatred after October 7 massacre

“The effects of the massacres carried out by Hamas on October 7 are causing the largest wave of antisemitism in Italy in 40 years”. The complaint comes from the last report by the Observatory on antisemitism of the Foundation Jewish Contemporary Documentation Center – CDEC in Milan. Based on reports received by the Observatory, there were 73 antisemitic hate incidents in Italy in October, half of them offline. “This is the highest number ever recorded by us in a single month,” Stefano Gatti, a researcher at the Observatory, told Pagine Ebraiche. “We are not at the level of France, but even here the situation is starting to be worrying.” Institutions are firm in their condemnations, but a toxic atmosphere is being felt. An atmosphere against which the Union of Italian Jewish Communities and the Jewish Community of Rome have launched a public appeal to say “no to antisemitism, no to terrorism,” organizing a marathon of speeches in the capital on December 5 to raise awareness about the “recent episodes that have taken place in our streets, schools or in Italian universities.” Episodes that fall within the CDEC report: from the defacement of the stumbling blocks to physical attacks against individual Jews to demonstrations in which Hamas is praised.
For Gatti, “beyond the number of antisemitic acts, it is worrying that a climate of intimidation is spreading against Jews and Israelis. Through the media, from television to newspapers, a form of justification for the violence committed by Palestinian terrorists is being repeated. They condemn the massacres and then add ‘but’ and reiterate the usual poisonous stereotypes.” For example, the researcher notes, “the use of a Christological image applied to the Palestinians described as victims in opposition to a vengeful Israel.” Or again, “they condemn the massacres of Hamas, but they add that the ‘real Holocaust’ is that of the Palestinian population.”
Distortions that are rampant on the net and “contribute to create an image of the Jew as always guilty; he can live with us, but only if he distances himself from Israel. It seems to hear Augustine and the idea of hostile tolerance towards the Jewish world.” In general, Gatti concludes, “institutions clearly condemn antisemitism, but there is a problem in public opinion.”

Above, the flyer announcing the national rally against antisemitism organized in Rome.