On Friday afternoon (24th January) a box with a pig’s head was delivered to Rome’s
Grand Synagogue. On Saturday (25th January) another two were delivered to the Israeli Embassy and the Museum of Rome presently featuring an exhibition of works by lyceum students on the Shoah.
One box contained an appalling anti-Semitic letter. The senders remain anonymous.
Swastikas and Holocaust denying graffiti defiled the walls of the Third Municipality of Rome.
These unspeakably vile and cowardly acts of anti-Semitism on the eve of the Sabbath as well as of the international Day of Remembrance which commemorates the victims of the worst genocide of the past century, are a sign that anti-Semitic racism in Italy has broken the barriers and taboos so firmly established by civil society and political forces from the immediate post-war period up to the present moment.
AJC – the American Jewish Committee – considers this as a serious signal of alarm, calling for increased vigilance and more incisive methods of teaching a culture of mutual respect aimed at reinforcing the moral and ethical values of future generations.
The consequences of indifference towards such acts, as history teaches us, can lead to a serious degeneration of peaceful coexistence, and of the democratic fabric of society.
AJC expressed hopes that the authors of this derogatory and intimidating gesture will be brought to justice.