Jewish LGBTQ group to participate in Rome Pride after initial ban for not joining Gaza ‘genocide’ declaration

Hours ahead of Rome Pride, Italy’s only Jewish LGBTQ group says it has reached a compromise with organizers who had said the organization was barred from participating due to a failure to “distance itself” from what organizers called an “ongoing genocide in Gaza.”

In a statement, Keshet Italia says it will be participating in the event and has joined the coordination committee for next year’s Rome Pride.

The compromise apparently came after a number of officials, including Rome’s mayor, intervened in the matter.

According to the Kan public broadcast, the Jewish group will march with police security after members were attacked last year.

The announcement comes after groups that wanted to be formally recognized in the parade with a float had to sign onto Rome Pride’s political platform, which includes a condemnation of the “genocide in Gaza.”

In an apparent attempt to reconcile with the policy, Keshet Italia issued a statement last month that lamented the suffering of Palestinians, while insisting that it did not feel comfortable characterizing Israel’s war as a genocide.

Last week, a group of Israelis were pushed and verbally accosted by attendees at the LGBTQ Pride Parade in Bologna, Italy, witnesses told Channel 12.

The group was waving a pride flag with the Star of David in the center, which other parade attendees took issue with, prompting the altercation. According to the report, a pregnant woman among the group of Israelis was violently pushed.