In Italy, nothing quite commemorates the victory against fascism like….trampling and burning Israeli flags.
The Vatican newspaper on Wednesday called the trampling and burning of Israeli flags during a march in Milan a “disgusting” offense to all Jews.
In a news article about the march, the L’Osservatore Romano newspaper called the anti-Israel protests a “serious and disgusting offense.”
“To offend a flag means to offend the people for whom it is a symbol, and therefore in this case it was an offense to the entire Jewish people, precisely on the day in which we celebrate liberation from their infamous oppressors,” L’Osservatore wrote.
Earlier on Wednesday,the Israeli ambassador to Italy condemned as “barbarous” the anti-Israeli demonstrations held “As a Jew and an Israeli, I was filled with shame and anger at the sight of the barbarous behavior of the ‘fascists’ who defiled the sanctity of the Liberation Day holiday,” Ambassador Ehud Gol said in a statement.
The protests occurred near a march Tuesday commemorating the 61st anniversary of Italy’s liberation from fascism. Demonstrators trampled and burned Israeli flags and yelled “Intifada” in support of the Palestinian uprising, according to media reports.
The protesters reportedly were angered by the presence in the march of Israeli flags in honor of members of the Jewish Infantry Brigade Group, which helped liberate Italy.
Commemorations are held throughout Italy on the April 25 national holiday in honor of the partisan uprising that began on that day in 1945 and ended with the execution of Fascist Party dictator Benito Mussolini.
