Antisemitic poster in Italian media: 'Returns to dark days'
An antisemitic poster was hung at a public radio station in Rome, featuring a caricature of a predatory animal with a kippah and sidelocks holding a microphone, as a protest against coverage of the attack in Samaria. The network's CEO strongly condemned it, comparing it to dark days. Police have opened an investigation.
An antisemitic poster was hung yesterday (Wednesday) morning on the bulletin board of a public radio station in Italy, depicting a predatory animal baring its teeth, wearing a kippah and sidelocks, dressed in hiker's clothing and holding walking sticks, with a microphone of the network in front of it. The poster was hung as a "criticism" of the network's correspondent in Jerusalem's coverage of the attack that occurred in Samaria last week, in which Staff Sergeant (res.) Binyahu Malet and Major Yuval Ezra were killed. In his reports, correspondent Giovan Battista Brunori used the term "hikers," similar to the language used by the IDF and Israeli media, which sparked criticism from left-wing groups in Italy. The caricature is signed by two pro-Palestinian groups, and at the bottom it reads "L'escurSIONISTA" – a play on words combining "hiker" and "Zionist." The network's CEO, Giampaolo Rossi, strongly condemned the poster, calling it a "very serious incident, coming after days of biased polemics and threats" against Brunori, and that the poster "pulls images from the worst antisemitic propaganda of the past." The radio station manager reported the incident to the police, who opened an investigation. The president of the Jewish community in Milan demanded an immediate investigation, and the network's journalists' union called the poster a "worrying warning sign" for Brunori's safety.