SOCIETY – Noemi Di Segni (UCEI): Mobilization for Gaza concerns the Jewish world

Ahead of the demonstrations planned on Sunday by Italian political parties and associations to protest the situation in Gaza, Noemi Di Segni, president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, expressed her appreciation “for those who work on both sides in favor of both populations”. In a statement, she outlined several concerns regarding the march organized in Rome on Sunday by the center-left political alliance known as “campo largo”. “We are concerned by the choice to defend only the Palestinian people and not the Israeli people. With one flag, and not two. A stripe to rebuild, and a population to feed, console and protect. Not two.”

The UCEI also expressed concern “about the call for a ceasefire directed unilaterally at Israel and not at Hamas, the terrorist group that planned and carried out the pogrom on October 7.” Another concern is that “the critiques addressed to the Israeli government and the Israeli Prime Minister, although legitimate, turn into a generalized and widespread judgement with no rigorous proof, which encompassing every aspect of Israel and sometimes renewing prejudice and hatred against the whole Jewish people.” It cannot be ignored that boycotts, disavowals, suspensions of long-standing agreements, and demonization of Israel generate widespread hatred and take the form of collective punishment, disavowing all the good that they have brought to Italy throughout the years.”

Regarding the Jewish world, the UCEI reports that “hateful insults, extermination evocations, and severe restrictions on freedom of religious expression” are fueling “a wave of antisemitism and racial hatred unseen since the Holocaust. “We continue to believe that the ‘two states for two peoples’ solution is a morally sound goal to which we should all aspire as a future horizon. We must commit to it to establish leadership and security, eradicate fundamentalism, and favor a democratic order.”