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Jewish Groups in Italy Decry ‘Dramatic Increase’ in Antisemitism While Marking Holocaust Remembrance Day

A drone view of the “Arbeit macht frei” gate at the former Auschwitz concentration camp ahead of the 80th anniversary of its liberation, Oswiecim, Poland, Jan. 10, 2025. Photot: REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
The Jewish community in Italy decried the surge in antisemitism sweeping across their country as they marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Monday, noting that antisemitic incidents have increased drastically while knowledge of the Nazis murdering six million Jews during World War II has plummeted.
“We are deeply concerned by the growing denial, distortion, and trivialization of the Holocaust,” Dario Disegni, president of the Jewish Community of Turin, said during a ceremony honoring military personnel and civilians who were imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps, according to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica.
Disegni emphasized that, as Holocaust survivors pass away, the risk is that “this terrible period” will soon be remembered only in history books.
“It is therefore up to us to be witnesses of the witnesses,” he said.
Disegni also denounced a “dramatic increase in antisemitic incidents,” which he said were “up 400 percent compared to previous years.”
Holocaust Remembrance Day falls on Jan. 27, the anniversary of the 1945 liberation of Auschwitz, the Nazis’ largest and most infamous concentration camp where over a million people were killed.
During Monday’s ceremony, 37 honorary medals were awarded posthumously to the families of those imprisoned in Nazi camps after Sept. 8, 1943, and forced into labor, La Repubblica reported.
“These medals represent the most important legacy, the greatest legacy, the most precious legacy, made of suffering, resilience, and the ability to endure so much pain and deprivation,” Turin Prefect Donato Cafagna said, addressing the families of those who suffered under Nazi persecution.
Turin Mayor Stefano Lo Russo also commemorated the 80th anniversary of Auschwitz’s liberation, recalling how the Soviet army freed those imprisoned.
“A moment that has gained immense significance, a symbol of a dark period in our history that we have the duty to remember: while so many witnesses of those terrible years are unfortunately no longer with us, it is up to all of us to carry forward their precious legacy,” Lo Russo posted on his Facebook account.
Meanwhile, the Jewish community of Milan withdrew from the main municipal Holocaust commemoration ceremony, citing concerns that it could be exploited to promote anti-Israel rhetoric accusing the country of genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
“Dialogue with the younger generations requires sharing and serenity, conditions lacking in last year’s event as well as on other occasions due to excessive politicization of some of the associations,” the group wrote in a statement.
Davide Romano, director of the Museum of the Jewish Brigade in Milan, told JNS that the new leadership at the National Association of Italian Partisans’ branch in Milan — a key co-organizer of Holocaust commemoration events — has taken the organization in an anti-Israel direction.
However, the Milan branch’s current president, Primo Minelli, rejected the concerns of the Jewish community.
“We don’t take orders from anyone, and we don’t let ourselves be intimidated. The battle against antisemitism is a fundamental battle for us, which we fight not only on Jan. 27 but 365 days a year,” Minelli told the Italian news outlet ANSA.
Romano explained that the decision to abstain from this year’s event stemmed from the fact that, since Hamas’s invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, numerous individuals and some participating associations have been making accusations of genocide against Israel in Gaza.
“It’s unacceptable to co-organize Holocaust commemoration one day, and celebrate as friends of Hamas and Hezbollah the next day,” he said, referring to two Iran-backed Islamist terror groups that openly seek Israel’s destruction.
Like many countries around the world, Italy has experienced a surge in antisemitic incidents since the Hamas atrocities of last Oct. 7.
The post Jewish Groups in Italy Decry ‘Dramatic Increase’ in Antisemitism While Marking Holocaust Remembrance Day first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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US Moves Patriot Missile Batteries from South Korea to Middle East

A Patriot missile battery. Photo: IDF.
i24 News – American Patriot missile defense batteries will be moved from South Korea to the Middle East, according to reports in Asian media on Friday, amid speculation over a potential military action against Iran’s nuclear program and escalating bombardments of Iran-backed jihadists in Yemen.
US President Donald Trump threatened Iran on Sunday with bombing and secondary tariffs if Tehran did not come to an agreement with Washington over its nuclear program, and the United States has moved additional warplanes into the region.
Washington and Seoul have reportedly recently agreed on the “monthslong” partial deployment of the Patriot Advanced Capability-3, in what is understood to be the first known case involving the relocation of United States Forces Korea (USFK) assets to the Middle East.
Iran in recent years has largely dropped the pretense of enriching uranium for a civilian atomic energy program, as it’s reportedly teetering on the nuclear precipice. Israel believes that a nuclear Iran represents a grave existential threat, consistent with the exterminationist antisemitism of the Islamic Republic’s anti-Israel rhetoric.
After the election of Trump, a known Iran hawk, the likelihood of an U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities has increased precipitously.
The post US Moves Patriot Missile Batteries from South Korea to Middle East first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: Iranian Plot to Assassinate Azerbaijani Rabbi Foiled

The Azerbaijani capital of Baku. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
i24 News – Iran enlisted the services of a Georgian drug trafficker to carry out an assassination of a prominent Azerbaijani rabbi, the Washington Post reported Saturday, citing security officials.
The plot to murder Rabbi Shneor Segal, foiled by the State Security Service of Azerbaijan in early January, also involved a plan to attack a Jewish education center, the officials said.
The plot was set in motion by an officer with Iran’s Quds Force, who met with Georgian criminal Agil Aslanov, handing him a photo of Segal and detailed instructions on how to murder him, the officials cited by WaPo said. Aslanov’s fee for the foiled hit was $200,000.
The State Security Service said the two men “worked to collect information about a member of a religious community, and sent the location of his residence and workplace to a representative of a foreign special service agency via the appropriate mobile phone application.”
Iran is known to be behind multiple plots against Israeli and Jewish targets, many of which have been foiled by Israeli and foreign security services.
However a recent plot saw three citizens of Uzbekistan murder an Israeli rabbi in the United Arab Emirates on Iranian orders. The three were sentenced to death earlier this week for the murder of Zvi Kogan in November.
The post Report: Iranian Plot to Assassinate Azerbaijani Rabbi Foiled first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Netanyahu to Depart for Washington on Sunday Directly from Hungary to Meet with Trump

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem, Feb. 16, 2025. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will depart to Washington DC on Sunday directly from Hungary—where he is presently on an official visit—to meet with US President Donald Trump, i24NEWS learned on Saturday from an Israeli source.
The visit comes following a phone conversation between the leaders on Friday, and a call with State Secretary Marco Rubio a short while ago.
As a result, the planned visit to Washington of Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz will be postponed once again.
Topics of discussion between the two leaders are expected to include the possible military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities, the Gaza war and the future of the war-ravaged Palestinian enclave, the US bombing campaign against Iran-backed Houthi jihadists in Yemen, and the recent imposition of tariffs on Israeli products.
The post Netanyahu to Depart for Washington on Sunday Directly from Hungary to Meet with Trump first appeared on Algemeiner.com.