“Anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism. It’s the left’s fault” – Il Tempo

A creeping, sneaky and dangerous hatred. A fear, that of belonging to the Jewish community, which seemed to have been lost in the depths of history. And which reappears from the left. Marco Carrai, honorary consul of Israel, says he is “disappointed but not surprised”. After the October 7 massacre, anti-Zionist incidents increased exponentially.

Do you see a worrying return of anti-Semitic sentiment on the horizon?
«It is completely useless to delude ourselves that anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism. They are simply two sides of the same coin. Those who think they can divide the Jewish people from Jerusalem do not realize that they are undermining the very origins of our community. We still pray today on the foundations of what was the temple of David. Often, those who contest Israel’s right to exist hide behind the definition of anti-Zionism only for fear of being accused of having forgotten the tragedy of the Shoah.”

Has the Netanyahu government responded coherently to Hamas’s policy of terror or has it made mistakes?
«Israel is a living democracy, where alternation in power is an established fact. Tell me in which other countries democracy would be able to hold up in a similar context. This is because Judaism has its roots in the discussion of the Torah in the temple. Hamas is a terrorist paramilitary organization. And it is the European Union that says it. For Hamas, Israel must not exist. And this is written, black and white, in the school books distributed in Gaza. In Palestine there is no freedom. Just think of the enormous disparity in treatment between men and women and towards homosexuals.”

In Italy, the most intransigent positions against the Jewish world come from the left. Is he surprised?
«I’m sorry, but not surprised. Until 1968 the progressive world was always strongly in support of the birth of Israel. Zionism was born from a left-wing experience, Theodor Herzl was left-wing and the experience of the kibbutzim is, even today, the only case of real socialism concretely realized. Then, a part of the Arab world linked itself to the USSR and the scenarios changed.”

In the universities, the collectives prevent journalists who do not fly the Palestinian flag from speaking and, at the same time, ask them to disregard research agreements with Israel. Can we define everything with the term racism?
“Absolutely yes. We are faced with an authentic abomination. And, I want to say this forcefully, it is not allowed to look the other way. The racial laws were signed in Pisa, on the San Rossore estate. The first step was precisely to prevent teachers of Jewish origin from being able to freely practice their profession.”

Some Jewish citizens say they no longer feel as safe as they did a few months ago. Is this an understandable fear or completely misplaced?
«It’s absolutely an understandable fear. Just open a newspaper, read what is happening in our universities, the writings on the walls, the stars of David drawn next to the swastikas. Just think that in Davos, in civilized Switzerland, a shop displayed a sign declaring its intention “not to rent skis to Jews”.