April 25, trip to the Jewish community: “These squares scare us”

In the processions on April 25th this year there will be a stone guest. The Jewish Brigade, with the Star of David on its flags, is an unwelcome guest. Some of the demonstrators don’t want them and there is already talk of a double security cordon around the Jews. And to say that the Jewish Brigade has always been part of the processions, in memory of the contribution made by the Jews to the Liberation. This year the anti-fascists profess to be anti-Zionists and threaten tensions. The signs are all there: the first posters appear in Rome and Milan where the partisans wear Hamas uniforms. And the Palestinian Student Movement, which in Rome announced its presence in the Porta San Paolo square, a symbolic place of the Roman Resistance, could seize the opportunity for a demonstration action. «This year the Liberation cannot be characterized by a hypocritical parade. There is an ongoing genocide in Palestine, so we will not allow any Zionist symbol to be displayed and associated with the Resistance”, explains the president of the student movement, Maya Issa, who asks the Jewish community to “distance itself from the Israeli state”.

To demonstrate against fascism, the only democratic country in the Middle East is therefore targeted. But that’s it. The Prefecture convened the security table and the Police Headquarters is in constant contact with Jewish organizations. “We have seen the previews, we will be calm along the way and we have no intention of arguing with anyone,” the president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, Noemi Di Segni, tells Tempo. «We will cover a few meters this year. We will go from the non-Catholic cemetery to Porta San Paolo, a short and linear route. We dedicate ourselves to a moment of remembrance and respect.” However, the protest, even in those few meters, risks turning into aggression. «Will they scream around us? They scream as much as they want. We will go straight and then we will go to via Tasso. For us it is an act of coherence, a duty given what we have contributed to the history of Italy. We are not interested in the other protests and I say it right now: this is not the place to make them.” The alert is high. The risk is real. “There’s a bit of concern.” It is Emanuele Fiano, the former Democratic MP who has long held the lead in the dialogue between politics and the Jewish communities, who admits that the concern, on the eve of April 25th, is very high.

The president of the Milanese Jewish Community, Walker Meghnagi, is categorical: «I will absolutely not participate in any procession. The anniversary of the Liberation belongs to the Italian people, but this year it will be a political demonstration and not a celebration as it should be”, he cuts short. The lawyer Iuri Maria Prado, who represents the 7 October association, represents the dark picture: «In the Europe that was the site of the Shoah and in the Italy that wrote the racial laws, the Jews, eighty years later, must hide and fear for their safety. We cannot accept the lie of anti-Zionism, we are faced with an anti-Semitic prejudice.” From politics we are starting to realize the risk of an out-of-control square. The president of the senators of Forza Italia, Maurizio Gasparri, warns: «We hope that April 25th will not be transformed into the Palestine holiday, but will instead be Liberation Day. An anti-Semitic attitude towards those who are protagonists on this day would be intolerable.” The personal escort of Carlo Calenda is added to the police escort: “We will be alongside the Jewish Brigade because no one can forbid them from taking part in April 25th”, said the Action leader. And Chicco Testa, now president of Assoambiente, writes on his profile I say they are fascists.”