The humiliation of the Israelis in Italy: “Undercover police told us to leave”

Spirits among the members of the Israeli-Jewish community in Bologna, Italy are still turbulent this morning (Sunday), after the violent confrontation and expulsion from the local pride parade yesterday. Some Israelis and Jews who live in the area arrived organized with pride flags and the Star of David, alongside Italian and Iranian supporters who said that they were verbally and physically attacked and had to leave the place after undercover police warned them that they were in danger. “Someone ran up to me and roughly ripped the sign I was holding out of my hands, I’m still very upset about what we went through yesterday,” Melanie told Sid to N12.

Lesid, a Jew who has lived in Italy for nearly 20 years, was the one who organized this diverse group of supporters, among other things, in response to the cancellation of the participation of the Jewish LGBT organization “Rainbow” from the parade in Rome. “We arrived in a positive spirit with pride flags and signs of support for LGBT rights and Jewish and Iranian communities,” she said. “Within minutes we were surrounded by people who started shouting at us. We knew we might encounter hostility, but we didn’t expect what happened next,” she repeated.

According to another Israeli woman who was there with her partner and their common son and spoke to N12, during the riot, undercover policemen approached the members of the group. “They quickly approached and said we had to leave because it could end in violence. They made it clear that we were in danger and that we should leave the place.”

Lassid describes that the confrontation quickly escalated. “We were harassed, yelled at, pushed, and a woman tore up the sign I was holding. In the end we had no choice but to leave.”

A similar testimony was given by another Israeli who participated in the event and is in advanced pregnancy: “I came to support proud Israeli families who live in Bologna and then they started pushing us and yelling at us ‘murderers’ and yelling ‘unwanted Zionists’. One of them tried to push me and they shouted at him that I was pregnant, he replied ‘if she is pregnant then don’t push her here’. It was scary.”

In recent weeks there has been a sharp wave of anti-Semitism against Israelis and Jews throughout Italy. The highlight event was the cancellation of the participation of the Jewish LGBT organization “Rainbow” from the planned pride parade in Rome – because it refused to condemn Israel. Israeli tourists reported offensive emails from various accommodations requiring them to declare their opposition to the Israeli government as a condition of their stay, as well as a restaurant that refused to accept a customer after noticing the Star of David symbol on its Instagram page.