Tensions over Israel have reached new levels in Italy following months of anti-Israel protests, culminating this week in a disruptive demonstration targeting a prominent Jewish speaker at a university in Venice — a scene that has sparked national headlines and deep embarrassment for Italy’s political left.
Dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters stormed a lecture hall at Ca’ Foscari University during a talk by Emanuele Fiano, 62, a former member of parliament from the center-left Democratic Party and a well-known Jewish public figure in Italy.
Pro-Palestinian protesters shut down Jewish politician's talk in Venice
Fiano, who once led Milan’s Jewish community and now heads the pro-Israel group Left for Israel: Two States for Two Peoples, was delivering a lecture on Middle East peace negotiations when protesters — including university students — interrupted him with chants, accusations and banners.
Video footage and eyewitness accounts described the demonstrators shouting “Zionists out of the university” and accusing Fiano of supporting “genocide against Palestinians.” Some protesters surrounded him, insisting he had “no right to speak here.” Fiano attempted to respond but was repeatedly shouted down.
“I tried everything to keep talking, but they kept screaming lies about me,” Fiano told Corriere della Sera. “The last time someone named Fiano was expelled from academia was in 1938, when my father was expelled for being a Jew.” His father, Nedo Fiano, survived Auschwitz after his entire family was murdered there. He died in 2020.
The incident drew condemnation from across Italy’s political spectrum, though notably muted response from senior figures on the left, many of whom have vocally criticized Israel in recent years but have done little to counter rising hostility toward Jews, especially those identified as pro-Israel.
Ca’ Foscari University, which last month suspended academic cooperation with Israeli institutions over the Gaza war, has not publicly condemned the protest. “This act by the protesters was fascist in nature,” Fiano said in an interview. “This is not the left I come from. Their principle is simple: if you don’t agree with them, you have no right to speak.”
Despite being a vocal critic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, Fiano has consistently defended Israel’s right to exist and warned that denying it amounts to antisemitism. “Criticizing Israel is legitimate,” he said, “but rejecting Jewish self-determination is not. That’s how anti-Zionism becomes antisemitism.”
Because of his outspoken views, Fiano has long been under security protection — a status shared by other prominent Italian Jews in recent years. Holocaust survivor and senator for life Liliana Segre also lives under round-the-clock guard due to threats from extremists across the political spectrum.
Jewish public figures in Italy have reported an increase in threats and attacks over the past two years, with some being physically assaulted or banned from speaking at public events.