On Friday, the Italian Cultural Institute of New York hosted an event to discuss the rising state of antisemitism in light of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks and Israel’s subsequent offensive into the Gaza Strip. Fabrizio di Michele, the Consul General of Italy in New York, gave the introduction to the main speaker, Minister of Justice Carlo Nordio; Di Michele stressed the delicate position Israel finds itself in as well as the nebulous mission it’s embarked on, the destruction of Hamas.
Nordio began by discussing how impactful it had been for him to visit the site of concentration camps like Auschwitz and Dachau; he contrasted this with the reality that a majority of camps, particularly the Nazi extermination camps that were located in Poland, are no longer standing. He alludes to the danger present in their memory being slowly removed from the collective consciousness.
He touches on the fact that many pro-Palestinian protests to the ongoing conflict, particularly in Europe, occasionally cross the line into antisemitic rhetoric when they glorify the actions of Hamas and use slogans such as “From the river to the sea,” an insinuation that Israel does not have a right to exist.
“There is another sort of antisemitism and this substantial hostility towards what is called Zionist imperialism. Here, the situation is more delicate because the repeated affirmation of solidarity with the Palestinian people and the call for the establishment of its sovereign state often conceal hatred towards the state of Israel and disavowal of its right to a safe life and effective self-defense.”
Nordio goes on to explain that the antisemitism we see on display throughout the world today is markedly different from that of the Nazis in World War II; “We are facing a new antisemitism, which is not the traditional antisemitism of the old Christianity, of the old Nazi party, but it is an antisemitism rooted in the ruins of communism, the hate against our western culture and against the existence of the people of Israel and Israel as a State.”
Speaking of the situation back home in Italy, Nordio brings up the 1993 law, “Legge Mancino,” which “criminalizes the propaganda of ideas based on racial or ethnic superiority or hatred or incitement to commit acts based on ethnic or religious superiority. The same law increases the penalties for anyone who incites to commit or commits violence or provocation to violence for racial, ethnic, national or religious reasons.”
He points out article two in particular, explaining that it punishes with imprisonment for up to three years anyone who in public gatherings exhibits external manifestations of signs or symbols or any form of organization of terrorism. Nordio says, “in this way, I’m sure that if there were manifestations in favor of Hamas in Italy there would be punishment, severe punishment.”
