•
In Rome, three young men (of Arab origins) in hoodies worn low over their faces
stopped in front of a shoe store on Via della Vite, just a stone’s throw from Piazza di
Spagna. They spat on the ground and threatened the owner with the words “Pieceof-shit Jew. We’ll be back” before running off. The three may have understood that the
store belongs to a Jew because of the mezuzah at the entrance. Frightened, the man
barely managed to call the Carabinieri before fainting. (February 25, 2015)
•
In Naples, a man got out of his car and accosted A. L., a Jewish woman, at the gate
to her home as she was returning, shouting “You will all end up in the ovens, it’s too
bad they didn’t kill you all!” A. L. witnessed the persecution of the Jews during the
years of Fascism and for over twenty years has talked about it in public venues,
particularly in schools. (March 24, 2015)
•
In Padua, M. R. reports receiving an anonymous threatening letter and says he filed
a complaint at the police station against an unknown perpetrator. The letter was
written using runic-style characters and concluded with a swastika. The text read:
“Jews out of Europe! All you deserve is gas chambers and crematoriums. We will ally with
ISIS and this time we will annihilate every last one of you, including the Israelis. Watch
out, you accursed shylocks, filthy pieces of shit.” The victim is the non-Jewish son of a
Jew who converted to Catholicism. (December 30, 2015)
As regards insults, the Antenna on Anti-Semitism received a number of reports of publicly
uttered anti-Semitic comments. What is striking about them is their renewed vehemence
and the underlying legitimization of anti-Semitic verbal statements, i.e. up until a few
years ago, while some people certainly harbored thoughts nurtured by a long and deep-
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