Bergamo, the post-shock of the entrepreneur (who then cancels)

«I have a hotel and in my small way I banished the Jews». Paolo Maddaloni’s thoughts are clearly expressed in a series of posts published on the Instagram page of Giornale.it. Entrepreneur in the waterproofing sector and owner of the Le Funi hotel, at the beginning of the climb to San Vigilio, in the Upper TownMaddaloni yesterday (18 April 2024) launched into a back-and-forth on social media, triggered by a headline that the newspaper had dedicated to a statement by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Tajani: «No one thinks of canceling Israel, an escalation is harmful to everyone.”

«Only you politicians – is the first consideration written by the entrepreneur from Bergamo – think that Israel should not be erased! The less ignorant people among you know that Israel should not exist». Someone reflects that “no one wants to erase Palestine, Israel would take a few minutes if it wanted to do so.” Maddaloni then counters that «Israel is a pen stroke made by criminal politicians and murderers, which should not exist». And when they point out that the Jews “have been there for millennia”, since the time of Jesus, here is the shocking response, full of exclamation marks, which also brings into play the hotel in one of the most evocative points of the city: “Jesus the Jews killed him! Like they are doing with the children of Gaza! Something indescribable! I have a hotel and in my own small way I banned Jews from coming, blocking their reservations. Many like me – claims Maddaloni -. Be serious, assuming that there were Jews 2000 years ago, there’s no going back to busting balls… and killing people! The world has always been in danger because of the Jews.” At that point, the user of the question and answer openly challenges him: «Tomorrow I will report this post to Federalberghi and let’s see what they have to say. And to the Bergamo tourism board.”

But the post disappears later in the evening. After the call from Courier Bergamo in the hotel, Maddaloni cancels it. Shortly afterwards, when he calls back, he explains his reasons and insists: «I don’t think I have offended anyone, I will be free to block bookings for child murderers. I work in waterproofing, the hotel was an investment. I have around fifty employees, two of them are Palestinian and they told me what they do there. One child killed is already too much, we should ask ourselves: “How many is too much?” How many is too many?”.

Maddaloni then apologizes for having raised his tone and says he deleted the post “To have no problems”. In any case, it is news that a hotel in the former Capital of Culture does not accept reservations from Israeli customers: «It’s not true – the entrepreneur corrects his point -, we couldn’t even do it. It was simply a provocation. A Jewish customer is due to arrive this evening too.”