Online Campaign in Italy Urged People to Mark Where Jews and Israeli Tourists Are Staying

Italy’s unit for combating antisemitism opened an investigation today (Monday) aimed at finding out who is behind the distribution of an antisemitic document on social media and in messaging groups in the city of Milan. The document asked users to "mark" Italian Jews or Israelis, or anyone connected to "Zionists," and report their arrival at hotels or vacation apartments across the country, as well as their presence in businesses. 

According to the document, the goal is "to map Zionist tourism" in the country. Italy’s commissioner for combating antisemitism, General Pasquale Angelosanto, ordered the document removed from the internet. 

Walter Meghnagi, head of Milan’s Jewish community, said the disgraceful initiative recalls a "hunt for Jews" and the atmosphere of ethnic and religious persecution of the 1930s. Meghnagi told the Italian news agency ANSA that the community chose to act through the authorities and passed the materials to the appropriate officials, demanding intervention by the justice system. He warned that the very circulation of a "list" of this kind could increase the risk of attacks and provide an easy target for extremist or unstable individuals.

In his words, "This looks like an actual manhunt, in which people are identified and exposed based on every stereotype, solely because of their Jewish religion or because of their alleged connection to the State of Israel."

Livia Ottolenghi, president of the Union of Jewish Communities in Italy, explained that this kind of mapping of Jews, and the mechanism behind it, amounts to a kind of "new yellow badge." Ottolenghi also warned that the document called for noting the presence of "Zionist settlements on Italian soil," and said it was a conspiracy that "reminds us of the racial laws of 1938." 

Ottolenghi warned that the document in question, which as noted was removed this morning, is not an isolated case, but rather "joins a thousand other cases of attempts to spread and entrench antisemitism in public opinion, all amid the deafening silence of civil society in Italy, with only a few exceptions."

Italian Senate President Ignazio La Russa also condemned the "map of Jews of Zionist tourism," saying it is something completely contrary to basic civil rights, and that behind it stands deep antisemitism that must be rejected in the clearest and most resolute way. "We must not remain indifferent to such serious incidents, which awaken the ghosts of the past," he said.