Jewish LGBT+ activists forced into hiding after alleged antisemitic attack at Naples Pride

Members of a Jewish LGBT+ group were forced to shelter backstage under police protection after organisers said they were targeted in an antisemitic attack during Naples Pride.

According to the Napoli Pride organisers, four activists from the Jewish LGBT+ organisation Keshet were assaulted after joining Saturday’s march, despite having endorsed the event’s political platform, which included criticism of the Israeli government.

Organisers said a group of around 20 people blocked the procession as it entered Piazza Dante before directing abuse and violence towards the Jewish participants.

In a statement issued after the event, Napoli Pride alleged the activists were shoved, spat at, hit with water balloons and sprayed with an unidentified stinging substance. Organisers also said kippahs were torn from the heads of Jewish participants while antisemitic insults were shouted.

The organisers said the same group later made its way behind the main stage and attempted to break through barriers to continue targeting the activists.

They said police intervened on the instructions of DIGOS, Italy’s anti-terrorism and political investigations unit, escorting the Keshet activists backstage, where they remained while protesters gathered outside.

Addressing the crowd at the end of the event, Napoli Pride organisers condemned what they described as “the hatred and anti-Semitism that erupted yesterday,” adding: “These acts are intolerable.”

The organisers said they would formally report the incident to the authorities and request urgent meetings with the Prefect, Police Commissioner, Mayor and regional president.

They added: “We will formally report everything that happened, providing the relevant authorities with the names and surnames of those responsible.”

The incident prompted condemnation from the European Jewish Congress, which said it was “deeply concerned” by reports that members of Keshet had been “harassed, assaulted, subjected to antisemitic abuse and forced to seek refuge backstage for their own safety.”

In a statement, the organisation said: “The fact that Jewish participants were targeted not for what they said or did, but simply for being visibly Jewish is deeply disturbing. No one should face intimidation, violence or exclusion because of their identity.”

It added: “When Jews are threatened, and the solution is to remove or hide them rather than confront the aggressors, intolerance is allowed to prevail.

“Those responsible must be identified and held accountable, and Jewish participants must be able to take part in public life openly and safely.”

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) also condemned the incident, saying members of Keshet Italia had been “cornered backstage for nearly an hour, screamed at as ‘murderers’, called ‘human trash’, and had objects and liquids thrown at them.”

Quoting Keshet Italia, the ADL added: “We were not excluded because of what we did. We were excluded because of who we are.”

The ADL concluded: “When a mob threatens people for being Jewish, that’s antisemitism. And when the response is to remove the Jews, the bullies win, and bigotry gets a reward.”