Three years after the start of the work we are carrying out together with Jewish communities, institutional and associative representatives, the Government’s commitment to address the tragic reality that continues to spread like wildfire of horror towards the Jewish population, current events bring us aberrant initiatives that clearly have a fierce political direction.
A link to open and a form to fill out: this is how an online reporting campaign took shape inviting the census of the presence of Israeli or Jewish citizens in hotels, accommodation facilities, and commercial activities to create a “Zionist mapping.”
In universities, where culture should be experiencing its best season, Israeli students are surrounded by leftist pro-Palestinian groups, with the tacit acquiescence of politically incorrect teachers, despite Minister Bernini having taken responsibility to condemn these forms of discrimination, stating that the principle of freedom, the quality of research, and teaching are sovereign.
Just recently, a letter from some professors of the Sapienza Committee for Palestine has emerged, angrily demanding that the future rector make a binding commitment against Israel, after the previous rector Polimeni prevented the interruption of academic relations with Israel.
The risk is that contemporary anti-Semitism is underestimated or interpreted with categories that do not grasp the nature of the phenomenon.
Some parties say that everyone must immediately profess themselves anti-fascists, but this is the new Nazi-fascism.
Mapping Jews is a scandal and not all political forces have taken a stand against those who deny the right to exist. The ideology of some Sapienza colleagues is shamefully a racist initiative that seeks to condemn students and colleagues to endure ideological loyalty.
Demonizing Israel and responding to the propaganda tide is very exhausting because, unfortunately, those who are not aligned among teachers of all levels are isolated.
Teachers and children of Gaza are exploited, but the Israeli schoolchildren kidnapped, tortured, raped, and slaughtered by Palestinian militants are naturally not addressed. Nor those who had to leave their schools and homes because they were destroyed or still threatened by terrorist attacks.
The Presidency of the Council’s table works with determination and we have identified five lines of activity that counter anti-Semitism.
We are making significant steps, despite also experiencing unpleasant remarks from some cloaked colleagues who even manage to be offensive towards the commitment of those who promote, propose, and act with the support of managers and officials of the various dedicated structures, within the framework of the document that was developed, defined, and chaired by the National Coordinator for the fight against anti-Semitism, Cons. Pasquale Angelosanto.
Actions that we carry out over a five-year perspective and that, within training on such a delicate topic, where the most evident backlashes are found, make the commitment particularly sensitive and burdensome.
The Strategy outlines a five-year plan that commits universities to adopt measures, codes of ethics, and training programs to prevent hatred and discrimination, updated with the CRUI, and is structured around five pillars:
- Research and analysis: monitoring discrimination phenomena in the university environment and enhancing initiatives and courses on Jewish history.
- Training: initiatives dedicated to students, teachers, and staff to recognize current forms of prejudice and promote workshops, training meetings, and the enhancement of the new strategy against anti-Semitism.
- Memory: awareness activities on the Shoah and Jewish history.
- Security: protection of university spaces and members of the academic community.
- Web monitoring: combating the spread of online hatred.
We move forward also aiming, as recently and with the administrative and economic support of the Ministry, to allocate some resources and calls for proposals. It is evident that, working in synergy, results are achieved and this is the best response that can be offered to our youth and to those who, without wanting to understand what drives the commitment to truth, allow themselves to judge, without any effort, the hardship of carrying forward and fostering in young people the awareness of a people’s right to exist.
