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Joe Biden wins over new fans after standing by Israel in its war with Hamas
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Fred Zeidman is a longtime Republican Jewish Committee leader who has been deeply critical of Joe Biden. He is backing Nikki Haley, the former ambassador to the United Nations, in her bid to unseat him.
So it was uncharacteristic when he praised a speech Biden gave before flying to Israel this week.
“I said, ‘I’m not going to say one thing bad about this guy,’” Zeidman told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “I think this is probably the most genuine impassioned speech I have ever heard from a sitting American president.”
Zeidman was far from the only right-wing Jew to be won over by Biden during the last two weeks, as the president has delivered unqualified support for Israel’s war against Hamas, launched in response to the terror group’s deadly invasion on Oct. 7.
“While I have been, and remain, deeply critical of the Biden Administration, the moral, tactical, diplomatic and military support that it has provided Israel over the past few days has been exceptional,” David Friedman, Donald Trump’s ambassador to Israel, said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
In Israel, where Trump was popular, Biden’s approval rating has shot up. A commentator on Israel’s Channel 14, a right-wing outlet that has lacerated Biden since his election, addressed him directly four days after the attack.
“Forgive us, for all that hard things that we said, and all that we thought,” said the commentator, Shay Golden. “Thank you, Mr. President, truly, thank you, thank you.”
For those who have long been on Biden’s side, his support for Israel comes as little surprise. His diplomatic ties to the country are longstanding, his affection frequently expressed.
“He gets the DNA of Zionism,” David Makovsky, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy who was a staffer in the Obama administration working on Israeli-Palestinian peace. “He just gets the idea of Israel. He has said no Jew is safe if there’s no Israel and basically, that’s what Zionism says, which is that stateless Jews are defenseless.”
Yet in a polarized political climate, even Biden’s pro-Israel bona fides have been dismissed by many on the right. The pro-Israel community in the United States and Israeli officials disdained the Middle East policy of President Barack Obama, under whom Biden served as vice president; in particular, they felt that Obama’s deal with Iran put Israel at risk. Many Republicans have mocked Biden’s age and foibles, saying they are evidence of his inability to serve at 80. And even those who might not have quarreled with Biden himself have worried that the Democratic Party is coming under the sway of progressives who are deeply critical of Israel.
Biden’s actions since Oct. 7 appear to have put all of those concerns to rest. Immediately after the attack, he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and warned Israel’s enemies not to exploit its vulnerability. Two days later, he draped the White House in the blue and white colors of the Israeli flag, saying “this is not some distant tragedy.” The next day, he addressed the nation, calling the attack “pure, unadulterated evil”.
Biden instructed his Jewish liaisons to brief the Jewish community, including on the measures he was taking to protect American Jews. He personally dropped by a White House briefing for Jewish leaders and said he was doing everything he could to release hostages.
He sent his secretary of state, Antony Blinken, on an extended Middle East tour to show support for Israel and garner backing from regional allies. He also ordered two aircraft carriers to the region.
“My message to any state or any other hostile actor thinking about attacking Israel remains the same as it was a week ago: Don’t. Don’t. Don’t,” Biden said on Wednesday.
The comment came during Biden’s lightning trip to Israel, where in less than 24 hours he sat in on a government meeting, met with and hugged survivors of the attack and delivered a searing speech in which he described the stages of Jewish mourning.
The visit came amid surging calls for Israel to cease bombing Gaza in its effort to quash Hamas. Seth Mandel, writing in the conservative Commentary magazine, praised Biden for resisting those calls from within his own party. “Everything in Biden’s speech today and his general demeanor … suggest he takes the inevitability of a ground incursion for granted and is uninterested in saving Hamas,” Mandel said.
Rejecting widespread criticism of Israel, Biden said upon his arrival in Tel Aviv that he believed Israeli claims that an explosion at a Gaza City hospital was the fault of Islamist terrorists.
He repeated that insistence during his Oval Office address on Thursday night, a rare step signifying special concern. “I am heartbroken by the tragic loss of Palestinian life, including the explosion at a hospital in Gaza — which was not done by the Israelis,” he said.
In his speech, he said attacks on Israel (and Ukraine) amounted to an attack on democracy and appealed to Congress for billions in additional defense assistance for Israel.
“He has absolutely come through in the clutch,” Zeidman said.
A photo of Biden’s face, with the massive caption, “Thank you, Mr. President,” newly graces a billboard overlooking Tel Aviv’s Ayalon highway. Moshe Lion, the mayor of Jerusalem and a member of the right-wing Likud Party, draped Jerusalem monuments with coupled Israeli and U.S. flags, and in a statement said the display was to honor Biden’s visit, although the president did not come to Jerusalem.
“From the beginning of the conflict, the president has stood with us firmly, assisting Israel and providing a powerful and meaningful voice against the terrible acts that have occurred in the South and against the threats from our enemies in the North,” Lion said. (Israeli troops are exchanging fire with Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based terrorist group that, like Hamas, is backed by Iran.)
The Israeli satirical show “Eretz Nehederet” aired a joke similar to the comments that crop up among Israelis on social media: Israelis need a leader, and it is Biden, not Netanyahu.
Biden’s lightning visit, his vivid empathy in his departure speech, and his visits with victims and heroes of the Oct. 7 attacks filled a leadership gap in Israel, said Tal Schneider, an Israeli political journalist who is closely watching the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
“People are in such shock, but they were heartwarmed and they felt embraced and many people said to me, ‘This is the first time that we see a leader,’ because since the war began… they did not hear anything with empathy, “ she said.
“The government here, it seems like they don’t really care,” she said, referring to widespread dissatisfaction with Netanyahu, and the perception that in addition to failing to prevent the attack, he has been absent since it occurred. “People thought that this is our father, you know, what I mean?” she said of Biden. “He came to the rescue, with all the American might.”
The display has rehabilitated Biden’s image in the country, according to Amir Tibon, a journalist for the liberal Israeli newspaper Haaretz whose father rescued his family on Oct. 7 and who was among the Israelis to meet with the U.S. president this week.
“Most Israelis heard over the last few years derogatory things about Biden due to his advanced age,” Tibon wrote in Haaretz. “Those who had the honor of meeting him Wednesday afternoon saw his age from another perspective, one of life experience and wisdom.” Tibon called Biden “the most important Zionist leader in the world.”
At home, too, the perception of Biden among many of his critics has shifted.
“In a world that pretends Israel has no right to exist, much less defend itself, Biden has shown tremendous moral courage at a key moment, despite criticism from his own party,” said a statement from Rabbi Avrohom Gordimer, the chairman of the Rabbinic Circle of the Coalition for Jewish Values, a right-wing Orthodox group that has also consistently criticized Democratic policies.
“The president’s actions since the massacre reflect the American people’s steadfast support for the Jewish state and underscore the shared Western values that serve as the foundation for the U.S.-Israel relationship,” Shari Dollinger, the co-executive director of Christians United for Israel, a group consistently critical of Democratic policies, said in a text message.
And a rabbi from the Orthodox community in Woodmere, New York, a redoubt of Jewish Trump supporters, solicited and delivered 18,000 letters of thanks to Biden.
Non-Jewish right-wing voices have also been won over by Biden. “I think It may be remembered as one of the best, if not the best, speeches of his presidency,” Brit Hume, a commentator on Fox News, said after the Oval Office speech. “He was as strong as he has been, particularly in recent days — before he went to Israel and while he was over there.”
Some Republicans remain skeptical if not hostile. Trump continues to say that he would do better than Biden at protecting Israel (although he alienated Israelis by praising Hezbollah and blaming Israel’s leadership for the Hamas incursion). Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, citing differences of policy with the Biden administration over humanitarian funding for the Palestinians, and an aid-for-hostages deal with Iran, accused Biden of helming the “most consistently and virulently anti-Israel administration America has ever seen.”
And even those Jewish conservatives praising Biden in the moment, including Zeidman, Friedman and Mandel, remain in a watchful wait-and-see mode. Zeidman said he wants Biden to more directly identify Iran as a hostile actor behind the attack.
“If there’s one thing that might have concerned me just a little bit, he has yet to mention Iran,” he said. (Biden’s aides have said that Iran bears some blame to the extent that it funds and trains Hamas, but they have yet to see direct evidence that Iran was involved in the Hamas invasion.)
Republicans have in the past sought fodder to attack Biden on Israel-related policy. One story that persistently crops up describes his encounter with the late Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. According to the story, penned by a Begin confidante just after the former prime minister’s death in 1992, a decade after the fact, Biden had yelled at Begin, and threatened to cut aid to Israel if Begin did not stop settlement building.
“Don’t threaten us with slashing aid,” Begin said in their 1982 meeting in a room in the U.S, Capitol, according to that account. “Do you think that because the U.S. lends us money it is entitled to impose on us what we must do? We are grateful for the assistance we have received, but we are not to be threatened. I am a proud Jew. Three thousand years of culture are behind me, and you will not frighten me with threats.”
Except, according to someone in the meeting, that’s not quite how it happened: Biden, who was solidly pro-Israel, asked Begin how he planned to explain controversial Israeli policies. The senator was not criticizing the policies, but Begin, famously prickly, took it as criticism, said Mike Kraft, who at the time was a staffer on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“It wasn’t a hostile or critical thing, but Begin just kind of let loose on him,” Kraft recalled in an interview this week.
“We’re just like, pretty neutral question,” Kraft said of the people in the room. “And Begin fired back, and I remember a couple other staff who were looking around saying what’s going on?” He chuckled at the recollection.
The Republican Jewish Coalition over the years deployed the purported Begin encounter against Biden, including in a Facebook post in 2019, just after Biden announced his intention to unseat Donald Trump.
Yet last week, its CEO, Matt Brooks, was praising Biden to the New York Times — just two weeks before all the major Republican presidential candidates will speak to RJC donors at its annual conference in Las Vegas.
“This will sound surprising, but by and large, the president has shown tremendous support, unwavering support, for Israel at a critical time,” Brooks told the Times. “Can we quibble on aspects of policy differences, over Iran’s complicity, for instance? Sure. But by and large, the American people and the international community have seen a president who has stood shoulder to shoulder with Israel.” (Brooks declined to comment to JTA, instead referring to his Times interview.)
And then there’s Biden’s famous Golda Meir story. When Joe Biden spoke to an Israeli embassy Independence Day bash in 2015, he knew the anecdote was old hat — he’d been telling versions of it for 42 years — but he wanted to tell it anyway.
“I’ll conclude — and my friends kid me and I imagine Ron does as well,” the then-Vice President said, glancing at the then-Israeli ambassador, Ron Dermer. “I’ll tell you the story about my meeting with Golda Meir.”
There was knowing laughter on the balmy April evening in the cavernous Andrew Mellon auditorium across from the National Mall: Jewish media reporters, who had for years covered Biden, glanced at each other and knocked back a little wine. Biden recalling Golda had become a drinking game.
The parameters of the story were familiar: He was a neophyte Delaware senator in the fall of 1973, barely 30 years old. She was the wizened, chain-smoking prime minister. He conveyed to her his sense that Israel’s enemies were about to launch a war. She seemed pessimistic too. (The Yom Kippur War would surprise Israel within days.) She asked him if he wanted to pose for a photograph. They stepped outside of her office.
“She said, ‘Senator, you look so worried,’” he said. “I said, ‘Well, my God, Madame Prime Minister,’ and I turned to look at her. I said, ‘The picture you paint.’ She said, ‘Oh, don’t worry. We have’ — I thought she only said this to me. She said, ‘We have a secret weapon in our conflict with the Arabs. You see, we have no place else to go.’”
The 2015 speech was aimed at assuaging tensions between his boss, President Barack Obama, and Dermer’s boss, Netanyahu, over the Iran nuclear deal Obama was brokering that year. That tension was what led the coverage of the speech.
But buried toward the end of the speech was a prophecy, made by a vice president and fulfilled by the same man once he became president: America would bring its military night to bear on Israel’s behalf, if it came to that.
“The most admirable thing about you is you’ve never asked us to fight for you,” he said in 2015. “But I promise you, if you were attacked and overwhelmed, we would fight for you.”
Biden has repeated the Golda story — now 50 years in the telling — more than once since Oct. 7. And now, the quote he attributes to Meir is emblazoned on a cafe wall in Tel Aviv, with his signature and Meir’s.
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The post Joe Biden wins over new fans after standing by Israel in its war with Hamas appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Israel Closes Embassies Worldwide, Jews Abroad Urged to Be Vigilant Following Iran Strikes
Smoke billows following missile attack from Iran on Israel, at Tel Aviv, Israel, June 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Gideon Markowicz ISRAEL
Israel has closed its embassies worldwide and is urging citizens to remain vigilant and avoid displaying Jewish or Israeli symbols in public, amid fears of Iranian retaliation following a series of Israeli strikes on Iran.
According to statements posted on embassy websites on Friday, Israel suspended consular services and urged citizens to cooperate with local authorities if threatened, without indicating how long the closures would last.
“In light of recent developments, Israeli missions around the world will be closed and consular services will not be provided,” the statement said.
Israel launched a broad preemptive attack on Iran overnight on Friday, targeting military installations and nuclear sites across the country in what officials described as an effort to neutralize an imminent nuclear threat, as nuclear negotiations between the United States and Tehran appear on the brink of collapse.
The Israeli strike killed several of Iran’s top military commanders and significantly weakened the country’s ability to retaliate, raising concerns of the risk of a broader conflict in the Middle East.
After Iran’s so-called “supreme leader,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned, of “severe punishment,” the country deployed a wave of drones toward Israel, followed by two barrages of ballistic missiles, most of which were intercepted.
However, Jerusalem and many observers fear that Tehran may retaliate by targeting Jewish and Israeli interests worldwide, especially given Iran’s compromised ability to strike directly at Israel.
Iran has a long history of orchestrating violence against Jewish and Israeli targets abroad, including support for terrorism and assassination plots in the West.
Tehran has regularly called for Israel’s destruction and supported terrorist groups worldwide — including Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthis in Yemen — by providing funding, training, and weapons.
US President Donald Trump suggested that Iran had brought the attack upon itself by rejecting Washington’s demands in nuclear negotiations to limit the country’s uranium enrichment program.
He urged Tehran to reach a nuclear deal, warning that “the next attacks already planned will be even more brutal.”
In response to Israel’s warnings of potential attacks on Jewish communities abroad, Jewish sites worldwide are strengthening their security measures.
Following a security cabinet meeting on Friday and a conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced that Germany is increasing security measures for Jewish and Israeli sites.
The German leader also urged both Israel and Iran to avoid actions that could further escalate tensions, while emphasizing Israel’s right to defend its existence and the security of its citizens.
“Germany is ready to use all diplomatic means at our disposal to influence the parties to the conflict,” Merz said in a statement. “The goal must remain that Iran does not develop nuclear weapons.”
Elsewhere in Europe, Sweden has stepped up visible security around the Great Synagogue of Stockholm and other Jewish sites.
In the United States, the Secure Community Network, a leading Jewish security organization, has called on Jewish communities to “remain on heightened alert and maintain robust security measures.”
“SCN stresses that, while there is currently no credible or specific threat against the Jewish community, this development occurs amid an already intensified threat environment,” the organization wrote in a post on X.
“This environment is fueled in part by Iranian-linked actors, designated foreign terrorist organizations, violent extremists, and politically motivated groups – entities which continue to incite violence globally, including against Jewish civilians and communal facilities, often under the pretext of perceived grievances related to Israel’s war with Hamas and related military or political developments,” the statement read.
In New York City, police ramped up security at Jewish and Israeli sites amid the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict.
“The NYPD [New York Police Department] is tracking the situation in the Middle East. Out of an abundance of caution, we’re deploying additional resources to Jewish, Israeli & other sites throughout NYC,” the department posted on X. “We’re coordinating with our federal partners & we’ll continue to monitor for any potential impact to NYC.”
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US Lawmakers Offer Mixed Reactions to Israeli Strikes Against Iranian Nuclear Sites
US House Speaker Mike Johnson speaks to members of the media at the Capitol building, April 20, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ken Cedeno
US lawmakers offered mixed reactions to Israel’s strikes on Iran overnight on Friday, with responses largely falling along ideological lines: Republicans broadly defended Israel’s right to act unilaterally, while many progressive Democrats expressed concern over the potential for regional escalation and what they viewed as the lack of prior US coordination.
“Today, Israel has determined that it must take decisive action to defend the Israeli people,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, (R-SD) said on X/Twitter. “The United States Senate stands ready to work with President [Donald] Trump and with our allies in Israel to restore peace in the region and, first and foremost, to defend the American people from Iranian aggression, especially our troops and civilians serving overseas.”
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) also defended Israel’s preemptive strikes against Iran, arguing that Tehran’s nuclear ambitions are unacceptable.
“Israel and the United States have been united, including in our shared insistence that Iran must never obtain a nuclear weapon. President Trump and his administration have worked tirelessly to ensure that outcome. Unfortunately, Iran has refused to agree and even declared yesterday its intent to build a new enrichment facility,” Johnson wrote on X/Twitter.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee added, “We back Israel to the hilt, all the way,” white vowing that if “the ayatollahs harm a single American, that will be the end of the ayatollahs.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of the foremost supporters of the Jewish state in Congress, wrote on X, “Game on,” adding, “Pray for Israel.”
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) said, “I ask every American to join me in praying for the safety of US personnel in the Middle East and the safety and success of Israel as it takes action against a leading state sponsor of terrorism and our shared enemy, Iran.”
Meanwhile, while many more centrist, moderate Democrats offered support for Israel, some were much more critical of Israel’s strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities, urging the White House and Jerusalem to seek a diplomatic resolution.
Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), the highest-ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, slammed Israel’s military operations as “reckless.”
“Israel’s alarming decision to launch airstrikes on Iran is a reckless escalation that risks igniting regional violence,” Reed said in a statement.
Progressive Democrats lambasted Israel for its military operation.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), one of the most anti-Israel voices in Congress, repudiated Israel’s attack on Iranian nuclear sites, warning that Jerusalem could lead the US into a hot war with Tehran.
“The Israeli government bombing Iran is a dangerous escalation that could lead to regional war. War Criminal Netanyahu will do anything to maintain his grip on power. We cannot let him drag our country into a war with Iran. Our government must stop funding and supporting this rogue genocidal regime,” Tlaib wrote, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), another staunch critic of the Jewish state, lambasted Jerusalem’s preemptive actions against Iran, suggesting that Israel behaves with impunity.
“Regardless of what Trump thinks, Israel knows America will do whatever they want and feels confident about their ability to get into war and have the American government back them up. Israel also knows they can always rely on getting America to protect and serve its needs. Everyone in America should prepare themselves to either see their tax dollars being spent on weapon supplies to Israel or be dragged into war with Iran if this escalates,” Omar said.
Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer (NY), the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in Congress, was one of the top Democrats not to criticize Israel’s strikes against Iran.
“I have long said that Israel has a right to defend itself and that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” Schumer said in a statement on Friday. “Ensuring they never obtain one must remain a top national security priority.”
He added, “The preferred path to preventing a nuclear-armed Iran and for supporting security and stability in the region has always been a strong, unrelenting diplomatic effort backed by meaningful leverage, and every effort must be made to move toward the path of a diplomatic solution.”
Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), a member of the Armed Services Committee, also defended Israel’s decision to strike Iranian nuclear sites.
“Israel acted in self-defense against an attack from Iran, and the US must continue to stand with Israel, as it has for decades, at this dangerous moment,” Rosen wrote.
In the early hours of Friday morning, Israel launched a large-scale military operation against Iran, named Operation Rising Lion, targeting key nuclear and military sites across the country. The strikes resulted in the deaths of several high-ranking Iranian officials, including Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Major General Hossein Salami, and two prominent nuclear scientists, Fereydoon Abbasi and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi. Explosions were reported in Tehran and other provinces, with significant damage to facilities in Natanz, Isfahan, Khondab, and Khorramabad.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) described the operation as a preemptive measure to prevent Iran from advancing its nuclear weapons program. In retaliation, Iran launched over 100 drones at Israel, most of which were intercepted, as well as two barrages of ballistic missiles that reportedly caused about two-dozen injuries. The Trump administration condemned Iran’s actions and reaffirmed its commitment to Israel’s defense, while distancing itself from the Israeli strikes by saying it was not involved in the operation.
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Rome Synagogue Defaced With Nazi Graffiti as New Report Reveals Antisemitic Prejudice Rampant Across Italy
Security footage of the alleged assault of a Jewish boy in Rome on Jan. 29, 2025. Photo: Screenshot/Castelli Notizie
A masked vandal struck a synagogue in Rome on Saturday shortly before midnight, security camera footage shows, using black marker to leave behind a swastika and antisemitic statements — “Sieg Heil” and ”Juden Raus”— on a sign outside the building’s entrance.
Rabbi Menachem Lazar discovered the crime at Beis Shmuel the next day and filed a report with law enforcement which resulted in the opening of an investigation by Italian law enforcement. Clean-up work and restoration began shortly after uncovering the antisemitic vandalism.
The incident came before a report released on Wednesday by Eurispes — an Italian research institute that focuses on politics, economics, and social issues — revealed the extent of antisemitism in Italy today. The research came as part of an agreement signed in April with Pasquale Angelosanto, the national coordinator for the fight against antisemitism.
The researchers polled a representative sample of the country’s population and found that 37.9 percent of Italians think that Jews “only think about accumulating money” while 58.2 percent see Jews as “a closed community.” In January, the Anti-Defamation League released the newest results of its Global 100 survey which found that 26 percent of Italians — 13.1 million adults — embrace six or more antisemitic stereotypes.
A sizable minority also misperceived the number of Jews in the country: 23.3 percent believed 500,000 Jews lived in Italy while 16.5 percent thought Jews numbered 2 million, both groups amounting to nearly 40 percent of the population misinformed. The Institute for Jewish Policy Research estimates the number of Jews in Italy as ranging from 26,800 to 48,910 depending on which standards of observance one selects. Eurispes places the number at 30,000 with 41.8 percent of respondents answering correctly.
Likewise, a minority of respondents believed historically false ideas about the Holocaust. While 60.4 gave the correct number of 6 million Jewish Holocaust victims, 25.5 believed the number only reached two million and others said even smaller figures, amounting to approximately 40 percent of the population with an inaccurate understanding of the scope of the Nazi-perpetrated genocide.
The report also showed elevated levels of anti-Israel belief among younger Italians, with 50.85 percent of those 18-24 thinking that “Jews in Palestine took others’ territories.” This figure contrasted with 44.2 percent of the general population and tracked alongside ideological self-descriptors as 50 percent of center-left voters agreed while 35 percent of center-right and right-wing voters did.
A majority of respondents — 54 percent — regarded antisemitic crimes as isolated incidents and not part of any broader trend, contrary to the findings of the Antisemitism Observatory of the CDEC Foundation in Milan which saw a surge of 877 reported antisemitic incidents in 2024. Between the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack on southern Israel and the end of that year, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi says the government counted 135 antisemitic incidents.
The wave of antisemitic incidents, often fueled by anti-Israel animus, has continued into this year.
In Italy’s Tuscany, for example, the regional council just voted to cut ties with Israel, a decision that came alongside the country’s president condemning conditions in Gaza as “inhumane and dangerous” while warning that Palestinian suffering would increase global antisemitism.
Last month, a restaurant in Naples ejected an Israeli family, telling them “Zionists are not welcome here.”
In November, a hotel manager in Rome canceled an Israeli couple’s booking a day before the start of their trip. He wrote to them, “Good morning. We inform you that the Israeli people as those responsible for genocide are not welcome customers in our structure.” The manager offered that the hotel “would be happy to grant free cancellation.”
On Jan. 29, a homeless Egyptian man in Rome attacked a Jewish boy and wounded the shopkeeper who intervened. At a protest on Jan. 11 in Bologna, demonstrators vandalized a synagogue, painting “Justice for a free Gaza.” Jonathan Peled, who serves as Israeli ambassador to Italy, described the incident as a “serious antisemitic attack which must be condemned with absolute firmness.”
In April, Tel Aviv University’s Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry and the Irwin Cotler Institute for Democracy, Human Rights, and Justice published an analysis naming Australia and Italy as two of the countries with the largest post-Oct. 7 bursts of antisemitism.
The report’s co-author Dr. Carl Yonker said that “in Italy, you see large drive in terms of anti-Israel activism, anti-Zionism activism that manifested itself as antisemitism in Italy.”
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