Italian politician's anti-Semitism sparks outcry
An anti-Semitic post by a comedian who founded the Italian parliament's third-largest party has sparked outrage in Italy's tiny Jewish community.
Comedian Beppe Grillo's blog on Monday featured a photo of Auschwitz's gate with its infamous motto "Arbeit Macht Frei" changed to sarcastically refer to a shadowy organization of Italian business and political figures. It also played with the title of a work by Primo Levi, a now deceased Jewish Italian writer who survived deportation to a Nazi death camp.
Italian Jewish community leader Renzo Gattegna, noting Passover started on Monday, denounced the post as "shameful" and "criminal." Leaders of various political parties also decried the post. (Associated Press)
