The name of Elly Schlein, the recently elected leader of the Democratic Party (PD), the largest Italian progressive formation, appeared this Thursday on a graffiti next to a Nazi swastika in the city of Viterbo (center) the same day that the first Israeli Minister Benjamin Netanyahu begins his official visit to Italy.
The graffiti addressed to the new secretary general of the PD included the message “Schlein, your face is already a macabre destiny” as well as a large black swastika, an event for which he received the solidarity of the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, who asked to “firmly” condemn the letter, in a press release.
Although Schlein, elected with 53% of the vote last February, declares herself non-practicing, her American-born father is an Ashkenazi Jew and has previously received similar threats in this capacity.
Also this morning in another Italian city, Ferrara (north), a business appeared tagged with the word “Hebrew” (Jewish), which provoked immediate condemnation from the local authorities.
Both threats coincided with Netanyahu’s arrival in Italy for a multi-day official visit that will include a meeting with Meloni next Friday, according to local media.
In an interview published today by La Repubblica newspaper, Netanyahu said it was time for Italy to recognize Jerusalem “as the ancestral capital of the Jewish people, for three thousand years.” As the United States did in a gesture of great friendship. “
On the current wave of violence between Palestinians and Israelis, Netanyahu believes that “the Palestinians’ problem” is that “they remain imprisoned in their rejection of Israel as a Jewish state, regardless of borders”.