* Alessandra Mussolini, granddaughter of Benito Mussolini, says: "Not only Fini, but the entire world, including the Vatican and the pope, should beg forgiveness of Israel"
CONTENTS
1. Italy's tiny Jewish community joined by politicians, priests, nuns and others
2. "The entire world, including the Vatican and the pope, should beg forgiveness of Israel"
3. Berlusconi's government has offered vigorous diplomatic support to Israel
4. Italy has become a principal target of Islamic extremists
5. Selection of news
6. "Italians join Jews in Sabbath services across country" (AP, Nov. 22, 2003)
7. "Granddaughter of Italy's World War II dictator says entire world 'should beg forgiveness of Israel'" (Al Bawaba, Nov. 24, 2003)
8. "Israel basks in warmth of friendship with Italy" (Financial Times, Nov. 18, 2003)
9. "Italy is 'major target' for extremists, minister warns" (ABC News Australia, Nov. 23, 2003)
This is a follow up to the dispatch of November 13, 2003 (Poll shows 17 percent of Italians oppose Israel's existence, and other items).
I attach four articles connected to Italy, with summaries first:
ITALY’S TINY JEWISH COMMUNITY JOINED BY POLITICIANS, PRIESTS, NUNS AND OTHERS
"Italians join Jews in Sabbath services across country" (Associated Press, November 22, 2003). "Italy's tiny Jewish community was joined at Saturday prayer services by politicians, priests, nuns and others in synagogues across the nation in a show of solidarity after the suicide terrorist attacks against two synagogues in Istanbul a week earlier. Among those participating in the initiative dubbed "Open Synagogues" were the mayors of Milan and Florence, the president of Parliament's Chamber of Deputies and several leaders of the center-left political opposition... Some 1,000 Milanese showed up at the synagogue to join the congregation in a united front against terrorism. After leaving Turin's synagogue, former Rome Mayor Francesco Rutelli, denounced anti-Semitism as "an unacceptable risk for our civilization that can return to blow across Europe."
“THE ENTIRE WORLD, INCLUDING THE VATICAN AND THE POPE, SHOULD BEG FORGIVENESS OF ISRAEL”
"Granddaughter of Italy's World War II dictator says entire world 'should beg forgiveness of Israel'" (Al Bawaba, November 24 2003). "Not only Gianfranco Fini, but the entire world, including the Vatican and the pope, should beg forgiveness of Israel," Alessandra Mussolini, granddaughter of Italy's World War II dictator and a member of parliament for the National Alliance party, told Ha'aretz in an interview. The interview coincided with the arrival of Fini, her party's leader and Italy's deputy prime minister, for his first official visit to Israel, during which he plans to apologize to the Jewish people for Italy's Holocaust-era crimes... The deaths of 19 Italian soldiers in a suicide bombing in Iraq and the recent terror attacks in Istanbul "make Italy Israel's ally," she explained. Mussolini, a niece of movie star Sophia Loren, burst onto the political scene in 1992, when she was elected to parliament as a member of the neo-fascist party in her home district of Naples."
BERLUSCONI’S GOVERNMENT HAS OFFERED VIGOROUS DIPLOMATIC SUPPORT TO ISRAEL
"Israel basks in warmth of friendship with Italy" (Financial Times, November 18 2003). "Ariel Sharon, Israel's prime minister, basked in the warmth of his country's growing friendship with Italy on Tuesday as Silvan Shalom, his foreign minister, completed two days of frosty talks with his European Union counterparts in Brussels. Mr Berlusconi's government, which will hold the EU's six-month rotating presidency until the end of December, has used its position to offer vigorous diplomatic support for Israel, departing from a traditional Italian tendency to speak up more for the Palestinian cause... The Berlusconi government's line has put Italy at odds with official EU policy, which is to maintain contacts with Mr Arafat and to be critical of the security barrier."
ITALY HAS BECOME A PRINCIPAL TARGET OF ISLAMIC EXTREMISTS
"Italy is 'major target' for extremists, minister warns (ABC News Australia, November 23, 2003). A senior Italian Government minister has said that Italy had become a principal target of Islamic extremists, as the authorities increased security levels across the country... Italy expelled six Moroccans, an Algerian and a preacher from Senegal earlier this week."
SELECTION OF NEWS
[Additional Note by Tom Gross]
This kind of news agency story ("Italians join Jews in Sabbath services across country" Nov. 22, 2003, Associated Press) does not gain very wide coverage in newspapers subscribing to AP or on their websites. This contrasts with pro-Palestinian news agency stories that the media re-publish in abundance.
For example, on the same day, Saturday November 22, 2003, another Associated Press, story ran as follows (partial list):
Palestinian Need for Soup Kitchen Grows (The Los Angeles Times)
Palestinian need for soup kitchen grows during fighting (San Francisco Chronicle)
Palestinian Need for Soup Kitchen Grows (Miami Herald)
Palestinian Need for Soup Kitchen Grows (The Ledger, Lakeland, Florida)
Palestinian need for soup kitchen grows during fighting (New Jersey online)
Palestinian Need for Soup Kitchen Grows (The Guardian, London)
And the list goes on.
Other news not widely covered in recent days include last week's iftar feast, hosted by Israeli President Moshe Katsav at his Jerusalem residence, for Israeli Arab dignitaries, marking the end of the Ramadan fast.
Other news not prominently covered includes:
* Two Israeli security guards were shot dead at a Jerusalem construction site on Saturday night. "The Jenin Martyrs' Brigades," which is affiliated with Yasser Arafat's Fatah, claimed responsibility for the attack. (The guards were named yesterday as Iliyah Riger, 58, from Jerusalem, and Samer Fathi Afan, 25, from a Bedouin village near Nazareth.)
* A Palestinian gunman shot dead two Israelis on 18 November.
* On November 20, a terrorist entering from Jordan shot dead a female Christian tourist from Ecuador and wounded four others at the Yitzhak Rabin border crossing, just north of Eilat. They were part of a group of 39 Ecuadorian pilgrims who were touring Middle East holy sights. The pilgrims were returning from sites in Jordan. Israeli guards shot dead the gunman before he was able to perpetrate a much bigger massacre.
* Avi Dichter, the Shin Bet Director said yesterday that a total of 14 suicide bombings had been prevented by Israeli security forces recently and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan had seen a sharp rise in the number of attempted attacks against Israeli targets. The Shin Bet chief also said that 9 percent of the Palestinian Authority's budget goes to Chairman Yasser Arafat. This sum is larger than the PA's entire health care budget, he pointed out. Dichter claimed that the money transferred to Arafat then goes to finance terror groups.
He added: "Hamas chiefs spend 90% of their time hiding and 10% of their time planning attacks. They are interested in a Hudna [temporary cease-fire] so they can come out of underground and strengthen their terror infrastructure."
-- Tom Gross
ITALIANS JOIN JEWS IN SHABBAT SERVICES ACROSS COUNTRY
Italians join Jews in Sabbath services across country
The Associated Press
November 22, 2003
Italy's tiny Jewish community was joined at Saturday prayer services by politicians, priests, nuns and others in synagogues across the nation in a show of solidarity after the suicide terrorist attacks against two synagogues in Istanbul a week earlier.
Among those participating in the initiative dubbed "Open Synagogues" were the mayors of Milan and Florence, the president of Parliament's Chamber of Deputies and several leaders of the center-left political opposition.
"Today is a special day because in synagogue we have so many friends, visitors who wanted to bring us their solidarity and friendship in a particularly difficult and critical moment," Milan's chief rabbi, Giuseppe Laras, told the congregation.
Some 1,000 Milanese showed up at the synagogue to join the congregation in a united front against terrorism.
Said Florence Mayor Leonardo Domenici in that city's synagogue: "Today we're here in numbers to pay witness to our solidarity toward our fellow citizens so harshly hit in their identity as a people."
After leaving Turin's synagogue, former Rome Mayor Francesco Rutelli, currently leader of an umbrella group of center-left opposition parties, denounced anti-Semitism as "an unacceptable risk for our civilization that can return to blow across Europe."
GRANDDAUGHTER OF MUSSOLINI SAYS ENTIRE WORLD “SHOULD BEG FORGIVENESS OF ISRAEL”
Granddaughter of Italy's World War II dictator says entire world ''should beg forgiveness of Israel''
Al Bawaba
November 24 2003
"Not only Gianfranco Fini, but the entire world, including the Vatican and the pope, should beg forgiveness of Israel," Alessandra Mussolini, granddaughter of Italy's World War II dictator and a member of parliament for the National Alliance party, told the Tel Aviv-based Haaretz daily in an interview.
The interview coincided with the arrival of Fini, her party's leader and Italy's deputy prime minister, for his first official visit to Israel, during which he plans to apologize to the Jewish people for Italy's Holocaust-era crimes.
When asked what she thought of Fini's plan to apologize to the Jewish people, she said that, in her mind, he had already done so, at the 1995 party conference in which Fini denounced anti-Semitism. "What is important to me is that Fini listen to the people, as I did during my visits to Israel," she conveyed.
"We need to develop mutual understanding, not disputes, since we are on the same side," she said.
Mussolini said the visit of Fini to Israel is important mainly because of "the [terrorist] assault on Italy and Europe." The deaths of 19 Italian soldiers in a suicide bombing in Iraq and the recent terror attacks in Istanbul "make Italy Israel's ally," she explained.
Mussolini, a niece of movie star Sophia Loren, burst onto the political scene in 1992, when she was elected to parliament as a member of the neo-fascist party in her home district of Naples. Over the ensuing years, she made it clear that she was proud to be descended from Italy's dictator.
ISRAEL BASKS IN WARMTH OF FRIENDSHIP WITH ITALY
Israel basks in warmth of friendship with Italy
By Tony Barber in Rome, Judy Dempsey in Brussels and Sharmila Devi in Jerusalem
Financial Times
November 18 2003
Ariel Sharon, Israel's prime minister, basked in the warmth of his country's growing friendship with Italy on Tuesday as Silvan Shalom, his foreign minister, completed two days of frosty talks with his European Union counterparts in Brussels.
On the second day of an official visit to Rome, Mr Sharon held talks with Antonio Martino, Italy's defence minister, and was due in the evening to confer with Silvio Berlusconi, prime minister.
"Italy is today the best friend that we have in Europe," Mr Sharon told members of Italy's Jewish community at an informal meeting. "We have never had a country holding the EU presidency that has been as friendly as Italy today."
Mr Shalom said in Brussels that a date had been set for Mr Sharon to meet Ahmed Qurei, his Palestinian counterpart, next week - the first top level meeting between the two sides since July 20.
"The renewal of our contacts with the Israeli side is still at its initial stages," Mr Qurei said. "We're serious about achieving something from our contacts and we hope the Israelis are as serious as we are. I warn them against tactical [military] moves."
Mr Berlusconi's government, which will hold the EU's six-month rotating presidency until the end of December, has used its position to offer vigorous diplomatic support for Israel, departing from a traditional Italian tendency to speak up more for the Palestinian cause.
When he travelled to Israel last June, Mr Berlusconi pleased Mr Sharon's government by making no attempt to visit Yassir Arafat, the Palestinian Authority president. Gianfranco Fini, Italy's deputy prime minister, has expressed understanding for Israel's decision to build a controversial security barrier in the West Bank.
The Berlusconi government's line has, however, put Italy at odds with official EU policy, which is to maintain contacts with Mr Arafat and to be critical of the security barrier.
These differences were exposed during the EU-Israeli talks in Brussels. Chris Patten, the EU's external affairs commissioner, told Mr Shalom that the barrier's route was not only illegal but prejudiced the outcome of any final peace settlement by making it more difficult for two independent and viable states to live side-by-side.
Mr Shalom handed the EU a concession by agreeing to let Marc Otte, the EU's special envoy to the Middle East, visit Mr Arafat and be received by Israeli officials.
This will end a boycott imposed by Mr Sharon that has meant Mr Otte has been cold-shouldered by Israeli officials since he met Mr Arafat last month. However, the concession will not apply to other EU officials who visit Mr Arafat.
Two Israeli soldiers were killed near Bethlehem on Tuesday by a Palestinian with an assault rifle hidden in a prayer mat - the first deadly attack since three soldiers were killed at a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip three weeks ago.
ITALY IS “MAJOR TARGET” FOR EXTREMISTS, MINISTER WARNS
Italy is 'major target' for extremists, minister warns
ABC News Australia/ Agence France Presse (AFP)
November 23, 2003
A senior Italian Government minister has said that Italy had become a principal target of Islamic extremists, as the authorities increased security levels across the country.
"We cannot ignore that the Nasiriyah massacre places Italy among the major targets of Islamic terrorism," said Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu in an address to Interior Ministry staff.
A truck bomb tore through an Italian police base in the southern Iraqi town of Nasiriyah on November 12, leaving 28 people dead including 19 Italians in the worst attack on Italian forces since World War II.
"Individuals, small groups or sleeper cells could be activated and strike on our national territory," he warned.
"The problem of security is on the top of the Government's agenda today," he said, urging his fellow ministers to "involve everyone in the fight against terrorism, including the immense majority of immigrant Muslims."
Italian authorities asked police on Friday to tighten security around sensitive sites and announced they were planning to deport a number of Muslim militants.
Police said that security had been upgraded around the Rome offices of Britain's HSBC bank, whose Turkish headquarters in Istanbul was targeted in a car bomb attack on Thursday.
A total of 12,761 regular and carabinieri police officers have been assigned to guard 8,069 potential targets, with 4,000 troops deployed to protect 162 sites, including the seven US and five NATO bases in Italy, according to the Interior Ministry.
Surveillance has also been beefed up at train stations, ports, and airports, with special attention paid to US and British companies and flights to and from the Middle East.
Security has been tightened at embassies, headquarters of international organisations, the Vatican, churches, synagogues, mosques, monuments and key power and water plants.
On Friday, Italian junior Interior Minister Antonio d'Ali said more people "suspected of supporting Islamist terrorism" could be deported.
Italy expelled six Moroccans, an Algerian and a preacher from Senegal earlier this week.
The preacher, Abdel Kader Mamour Fall, was expelled on Tuesday as a potential threat to security after he boasted of knowing Osama bin Laden and warned that if Italian troops were not pulled out of Iraq there could be a bomb attack in Rome.
He has denied he had links to bin Laden, but has described him as a "great man".
Despite the announcement of the new security measures, the Italian Interior Ministry has been complaining about a lack of funds, with the ministry likely to lose 800 million euros out of its budget next year, according to the Italian media.