seated tradition of anti-Jewish prejudice and stereotypes , they would not express them in public , they were not considered admissible . Now it appears that they are .
• In Milan , M . P . reports that prior to a water aerobics lesson at the Bacone municipal pool , there was a discussion of a shooting that had just occurred in the Milan courthouse . “ At a certain point , one of the women in the class exclaimed , ‘ This guy manages to enter the court building with a pistol and nobody stops him while in Stresa there are fifty police officers defending those piece-of-shit Jews !’ She repeated it twice to make sure we got the point . No one said anything . Shocked and appalled , neither did I . The lesson was about to begin and I let it slide . But then as I was leaving the locker room I said to her , ‘ Byebye from a piece-of-shit Jew .’ Pandemonium , the usual excuses that she didn ’ t have anything against me , she was talking about a specific case (?), that she didn ’ t mean to offend me , etc . Except for one woman , who timidly said she agreed with me , all the others either kept quiet or defended the woman by making me out to be a hothead .” ( April 9 , 2015 )
Graffiti and posters
Writings on walls are one of the earliest forms of public communication , and for many years , prior to advent of the Internet , they were perhaps the principal and most widespread vehicle for anti-Semitic expression in Italy .
• A few days after the death of Elio Toaff ( April 19 , 2015 ), Chief Rabbi emeritus of Rome , at the age of 99 , wall writings were observed in various parts of the city by the neo-Nazi organization Militia : “ Today Toaff tomorrow Pacifici 1 ” ( near the Coliseum ); “ Toaff , we ’ ll be dancing on your grave !” ( Via del Colosseo , at the intersection with Via Cavour ); “ The Fuhrer is grateful for the birthday present … bye-bye Toaff !” ( Piazza Indipendenza ); “ Toaff ... one less pig ” ( Via Gallia ); “ The worms await you , Toaff you sleazebag ” ( Via dei Normanni ). At the Olympic village they wrote “ Happy birthday Adolf Hitler ! Your present is one less Jew ” in reference to the coincidence that the leader of the Nazis was born on April 20 , 1889 and that Toaff , who had fought with the Partisans , died on April 19 . ( April 21 , 2015 ). On Facebook , individuals and groups inclining toward the radical right posted a host of comments , many of them mocking , trivializing and brutally anti-Semitic (“ one less pig ”, “ piece of shit ”, etc . ). ( April 22 , 2015 )
Publishing houses and books with anti-Semitic content Publishing houses that issue anti-Semitic materials are becoming increasingly active and prolific , especially those associated with the radical right . Every year new titles are added to their catalogues , mainly classics in anti-Semitic ideology , works by Nazi theorists , and pre-Vatican II Catholic , anti-Zionist , conspiracy theory and negationist apologetics .
1 Riccardo Pacifici , president of the Jewish Community of Rome .
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