Italian president: October 7 attack ‘a gruesome replica of the horrors of the Shoah

ROME — Italy’s president denounces rising antisemitism and delivers a powerful speech in support of the Jewish people as he commemorates a Holocaust Remembrance Day overshadowed by Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and a rise in anti-Israel acts here.

In a ceremony at the Quirinale Palace attended by the premier and leaders of Italy’s Jewish community, President Sergio Mattarella calls the Holocaust “the most abominable of crimes” and recalls the complicity of Italians under Fascism in the deportation of Jews.

Mattarella’s tenure as president has been marked by strong affirmations in support of Jews, and he continued that Friday. He says the October 7 attacks by Hamas against Israel were “a gruesome replica of the horrors of the Shoah.”

But Mattarella also expresses anguish for the mounting Palestinian death toll in Gaza as a result of Israel’s military campaign and calls for fundamental human rights to be respected everywhere.

“Those who have suffered the vile attempt to erase their own people from the land know that one cannot deny another people the right to a state,” Mattarella says.

Antisemitic episodes in Italy hit an unprecedented high last year, with 216 incidents reported in the last three months of 2023 following the October 7 attack, compared to 241 in all of the previous year, the Antisemitism Observatory reported. Overall, 454 incidents of antisemitism were reported last year, the biggest-ever increase.

“The dead of Auschwitz, scattered in the wind, continually warn us: Man’s path proceeds along rough and risky roads,” Mattarella says. “This is also manifested by the return, in the world, of dangerous instances of antisemitism: of prejudice that traces back to ancient anti-Jewish stereotypes, reinforced by social media without control or modesty.”

Significantly, he quotes Primo Levi, the Italian-born Auschwitz survivor whose memoir “If This is a Man” remains a standard work of Holocaust literature. Just this week, Italy’s Jewish community denounced that pro-Palestinian protesters had cited Levi in a flyer promoting tomorrow’s planned protest, but in reference to Gaza, not the Holocaust.