by Giovanni Giacalone
On Sunday, July 6, the president of Milan’s Jewish community, Walker Meghnagi, released a statement to the Italian press agencies regarding the wave of anti-Semitism that has been ongoing in Italy from October 7, 2023 onwards, which is becoming increasingly stronger.
As reported by the Italian newspaper Il Giorno, Meghnagi said:
“The legislation regarding so-called hate crimes is insufficient; it neither protects nor prevents. We see this every day. Furthermore, we need an awareness campaign against anti-Semitism aimed at prevention…We are seriously concerned about what is happening and would like the legislator to urgently address this emergency. In recent weeks, there has been a steady stream of incidents that put the safety of Jews at risk. Action must be taken as soon as possible.”
The latest cases in Milan and Rome are causing considerable concern, while at the same time, there has been no significant response from Italian decision-makers.
As Meghnagi stated: “There is a Commission against anti-Semitism, created thanks to Liliana Segre. Let it act. General Angelosanto, a very good man, has been appointed by the government as National Coordinator for the Fight against Anti-Semitism. Let him do something. Let’s not wait until we reach a situation even more worrying than the current one.”
The latest cases
As reported by the Times of Israel, on the night of June 26, unknown individuals placed dozens of posters around Milan’s Jewish neighborhood with the writing “Israeli not welcome”.
According to an article published on June 27 by the news site MilanoToday, six individuals (three men and three women) were under police scrutiny as suspected authors of the posters. The investigators have been trying to reconstruct the events using images from various surveillance cameras in the area. However, no breakthrough has yet emerged.
It is worth recalling that in late May, a haberdashery shop in the center of Milan had displayed on its door a sign in Hebrew saying: “Israelis and Zionists are not welcome here”.
In Rome, on July 1, posters featuring a Nazi soldier with a Star of David on his arm (instead of a swastika) were found in Rome’s Trastevere and Presentina areas.
A few weeks before, a poster portraying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu kissing Hitler was found on the outside wall of “Manara” high school in Rome.
It is also important to remember that one year ago, in August 2024, anti-Semitic posters written in Italian and encouraging people not to buy from Jewish-owned stores were retrieved in different parts of Rome. The posters also included a list of Jewish-owned stores to be boycotted.
On July 6, the Council of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, approved a motion that strongly calls on communications watchdogs, regulatory authorities, and public and private media to exercise the utmost care and responsibility in collecting and disseminating information content, to counter systemic disinformation or hostile and dehumanizing propaganda against Jewish communities and the State of Israel.
Among other things, the motion emphasized that the conflict in the Middle East cannot in any way be used as a justification for attacking Jewish citizens. Anti-Semitism, in whatever form it presents itself, explicit or covert, represents a threat to democratic society as a whole and the founding values of the Italian Republic and the European Union. Moreover, it is the duty of institutions, political parties, and social and cultural organizations to combat all forms of hatred and discrimination.
The left wing is disseminating anti-Semitism
In Sunday’s statement, Meghnagi accused some Italian political forces, all of them center-left, of constantly attacking Israel: “Everything that’s happening in our country is due to one political faction. Five Star Movement leader Giuseppe Conte is now constantly making anti-Israel statements. Democratic Party Secretary Elly Schlein does the same. Not to mention spokespeople for the Green and Left Alliance, Angelo Bonelli and Nicola Fratoianni.”
Furthermore, Meghnagi highlighted an appeal by former Five Star Movement senator, Gianluca Ferrara, on Il Fatto Quotidiano newspaper, entitled “Get out of the Ghetto” with the message that “the silence of the Italian Jewish community regarding Gaza is complicity…As if the Jews were supposed to exonerate themselves for what is ongoing; and this is anti-Semitism.”
In addition, since the October 7, 2023 massacre, extra-parliamentary far-left groups such as Potere al Popolo, USB, Fronte Comunista, Cambiare Rotta, Giovani Comunisti, CARC (Committee for the Support of Communist Resistance) have been constantly active, side by side with Palestinian groups such as Giovani Palestinesi, Associazione Palestinesi d’Italia, and Unione Democratica Arabo-Palestinese in spreading very aggressive anti-Israel and anti-US propaganda. (Read the Washington Outsider’s in-depth articles “The anti-US far-left subversive groups in Italy and the “Palestinian cause” Part 1 and Part 2).
Interestingly, a far-left clandestine formation known as “The New Italian Communist Party” (NPCI), which has been identified as CARC’s “twin organization”, after being on sleeping mode for quite a few years, suddenly returned to full activity immediately after the October 7th massacre, mainly through the dissemination of subversive and terrorist narrative and propaganda utilizing its website in Italian language.
In the summer of 2024, the NPCI published a blacklist of Jews and non-Jews, all accused of being “Zionists” and “on Israel’s payroll”. The list includes hundreds of names: politicians, academics, diplomats, journalists, rabbis, businessmen, activists, ministers of the current Italian government, and MPs, including 94-year-old Jewish senator Liliana Segre, a Shoah survivor who is constantly targeted by these groups for not distancing herself from Israel.
Strangely enough, despite the fact that NPCI has been promoting the subversion of the democratic order by invoking the overthrow of the Meloni-government and the establishment of a Communist regime, the website is still up and running; the black list has even been updated with additional names, while there is so far no information about any arrest made by the Italian authorities.
Italy has also witnessed demonstrations organized by the far left where photos of journalists, rabbis, ministers, and politicians were paraded, in perfect 1930s Germany style, and indicated as “Zionist agents”. The latest, on July 10, outside the offices of Libero and Il Giornale newspapers in Milan.
Moving on with other cases, on May 15, 2025, a conference on anti-Semitism that was supposed to take place at the University of Turin-Campus Einaudi was violently hampered by hundreds of far-left pro-Palestinian and Hamas supporters.
The assailants stormed the classroom shouting “Intifada”; they insulted, threatened, spat at and physically attacked various people belonging to the Union of Young Jews of Italy, Students for Freedom, Liberal Students and Students for Israel. One of the far-left activists, a female wearing a kefya, ripped the “Free the hostages” pin from the jacket of UGEI (Young Jews of Italy) president, Luca Spizzichino.
As explained by Stefano Gatti, researcher at the Italian Osservatorio Antisemitismo (Anti-Semitism Observatory), since the October 7th massacre, anti-Semitic acts and speeches have continued to increase throughout Italy, reaching a very difficult situation.
“This type of anti-Semitism, poorly disguised as anti-fascist, humanitarian, and “democratic”, has now been legitimized at the highest levels. Parties like the Five Star Movement (M5S) and the Italian Social Democratic Party (AVS), as well as large sectors of the Democratic Party (PD), have no qualms about calling on Jews to distance themselves from the “genocide” in Gaza, or risk being held co-responsible for the massacre. These parties have now appropriated the “anti-Zionist” rhetoric of Arab-Islamic propaganda. Even the mainstream media—especially online and on TV—are serving as a mouthpiece for hoaxes attributing all kinds of horrors to “Zionists.”
It is worth highlighting that the cited parties expressed support for Francesca Albanese, immediately after the sanctioning by the Trump administration.
Stefano Gatti explained that displaying “anti-Zionists” signs in shops, chasing away or harassing “Zionist” customers, and “de-Zionizing” schools and universities has become a common practice in Italy. This model of masked anti-Semitism, which enjoys widespread social acceptance, is strongly spreading also due to the authorities’ inaction.
A few thoughts on the Italian situation
The extremely worrying situation undoubtedly stems from a fundamental political and governance problem. Although the government led by Giorgia Meloni cannot be described as anti-Israel, if compared to other governments such as those in Spain, Ireland, or Norway, for some reason there seems to be a paralysis, on behalf of the decision-makers, regarding clear and effective measures to be implemented against those groups that spread anti-Semitism, often disguised as “anti-Zionism.”
If this were not the case, we would not be here today, talking about it and commenting on the statements and motions of the Italian Jewish communities, understandably concerned.
In addition to the political issue, another matter needs to be addressed and that is a purely technical one related to the authorities’ inaction and, in some cases, ambiguity, towards the violent far left and pro-Palestinian activity.
For instance, on January 27th 2024, Holocaust Memorial Day, a far-left pro-Palestinian unauthorized demonstration was held in Milan’s Piazzale Loreto, precisely via Padova, a street with a high presence of Muslims. At a certain point during the demonstration, a young man named Mihael Melnic exposed from the window of his building, right above the demonstrators, a hand-written sign saying “Free Gaza from Hamas”. The “pro-Pal” demonstrators consequently began to insult and threaten him.
After approximately five minutes, plainclothes police officers began banging on his door, they entered the flat without invitation and tried to confiscate the cardboard sign. The officers identified Melnic and told him that he was doing “something wrong”. However, Melnic did not turn in the sign and said that it was his constitutional right to express his opinion(Read the Times of Israel’s interview with Mihael Melnic here).
It is worth recalling once again that the street demonstration was not authorized and that it went on till evening.
Moving forward, on Sunday, March 24, 2024, Israeli veterinary student Jasmine Kolodro stood on the street, wrapped in an Israeli flag, next to a pro-Palestinian demonstration in the city of Padua. After a few minutes, the demonstrators began to verbally attack and insult her, calling her “a Nazi” and “a murderer.”
Kolodro was later asked to show up at the police station because the authorities wanted to understand what had happened and she was told she should have asked for permission from the police to go to the street with the Israeli flag because it was “a provocative action.” Additionally, the authorities also told her that the next time she did that, it would be considered a felony. (Read the full story of the case here).
While both gestures may have been perceived by the Italian authorities as provocations that could have caused an escalation, putting the safety of the two at risk, these interventions can also be interpreted as double standards and abuse.
Another detail worth recalling concerns the previously cited anti-Semitism event hampered on May 15, 2025 by far left and pro-Palestinian activists.
The Italian State Police press office provided its version, stating that the classroom “had been initially assigned for the event was taken over by students or, in any case, people belonging to “the opposite faction”. The organizers therefore moved to another room but the same thing happened and so they gave up on holding the event. The police press office spoke of “moments of tension”, stating that they were not aware of the violence other than “a few pushes and nothing more”. Statements that are however in contrast with the testimonies of those who were attacked inside campus. It is also interesting to notice that, when asked if the officers had proceeded with the identification or arrest of any pro-Palestinian protesters, the police answered “no”.
Without wanting to get lost in useless polemics or question the performance of law enforcers, who often find themselves operating under extremely difficult conditions, it must be recognized that incidents of this kind certainly do not help to establish trust in the authorities.
Declarations of support and solidarity towards Jewish communities are meaningless if ambiguity sets in and the necessary determination is not taken to address groups that fuel hatred and anti-Semitism. Many are wondering what this inaction is due to, and it is difficult to find an answer.