Rome’s Jews urge PM Meloni to punish party’s youth for antisemitic remarks

ROME, Italy — Rome’s Jewish community has called for Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to punish members of her party’s youth wing who were recorded making antisemitic and pro-fascist comments in an undercover media investigation.

A reporter from the online newspaper Fanpage infiltrated Gioventu Nazionale, Meloni’s rightist Brothers of Italy youth movement, and recorded videos in which members declared themselves fascists and shouted the Nazi slogan “Sieg Heil.”

The investigation also showed a Gioventu Nazionale member mocking Brothers of Italy senator Ester Mieli for her Jewish origin and revealed chats on messaging platforms where militants took aim at ethnic minorities.

Fanpage has broadcast its expose in two installments, the second one on Wednesday.

“The Jewish Community of Rome condemns the shameful images of racism and antisemitism that emerged from the Fanpage investigation,” the group’s President Victor Fadlun writes on his X social media account.

Fadlun offers his support to Senator Mieli and urges Brothers of Italy to take “appropriate action,” saying it was “imperative that society and institutions” strongly react against hatred and discrimination.

Brothers of Italy says the youth group members had used “unacceptable” language “incompatible with the values” of the party and it vowed to punish those responsible. However, it criticizes the way the images were captured because the reporter was undercover.

Italian newspaper la Repubblica reports that two of the members involved in the investigation had resigned from their posts.