Italian Mayor Threatened After Helping Israeli Families Settle in Small Northern Town

The Italian newspaper "La Stampa" reported today (Sunday) that police in Turin, in the Piedmont region in the north of the country, are investigating threats against the life of the mayor of Varallo, a town located in the region. The mayor, Pietro Bondetti, received an envelope containing a handgun bullet as well as a message: "This is a final warning. Next time it will be direct gunfire."

In the letter attached to the envelope, he was asked to remove from the town dozens of Israeli families who have settled there in recent years. The letter was signed by an organization called the "Anti-Zionist Movement." Threats were also directed at Ugo Luzzati, founder of the “Bayta” project, through which around 70 Israeli families have settled there since 2023. Luzzati previously lived in Israel.

According to the report, prosecutors in Turin and the anti-mafia unit have also joined the investigation, since the mayor himself is the target of the threats. The case has sparked broad reaction in Italy, and President Sergio Mattarella spoke with Bondetti, expressed his support, and condemned the threat made against him.

The threatening document stated that the two men, Bondetti and Luzzati, along with other mayors in the area, are responsible for allowing what it called a “settlement of Nazi-Zionists.” Among other things, it said: “We will not tolerate the absorption of additional families.”