Pro-Palestinians desecrate memorial to 2-year old killed by Palestinian terrorists

Pro-Palestinian activists in Rome have defaced a memorial to a two-year old Jewish boy who was murdered in a 1982 attack by Palestinian terrorists on the city’s main synagogue, with the president of the Jewish community condemning the country’s “spiral of hatred” and a “climate of intimidation” for Jews.

The day after an anti-Israel protest was held outside the Beth Michael synagogue in Rome’s Monteverde neighbourhood, congregants found that graffiti, including slogans such as “free Palestine” and “Monteverde is anti-Zionist and anti-Fascist” had been sprayed on the synagogue itself. A memorial plaque outside to the two-year old Stefano Gaj Taché, killed in the 1982 terror attack on Rome’s Great Synagogue, was also graffitied.

Victor Fadlun, president of Rome’s Jewish community, said: “In the aftermath of yet another pro-Palestinian demonstration, the dedication plaque at the Monteverde synagogue was desecrated…this is all part of a climate of intimidation.”

Fadlun went on to describe how “antisemitism has become the most despicable tool of political protest” and called for “decisive government intervention to halt this spiral of hatred.

“This is an act that outrages the Jewish community, it deeply wounds it,” he went on to say.

“This is a gathering place where families, children, and young people meet. The synagogue is a place…where people go to pray, but also to get to know one another and build a sense of community. Attacking the synagogue in this way means denying and infringing on the right of Jews to lead a normal life, and this is unacceptable.”

The 1982 terror attack on Rome’s Great Synagogue, carried out by Palestinians from the Abu Nidal terrorist organisations, saw the 5 perpetrators throw grenades and fire with machine guns at congregants leaving the shul after Shabbat morning prayers. 37 people were wounded and one – Stefano – was killed.

The Union of Young Italian Jews condemned the graffiti as “an insult to the Jewish community, and at the same time a direct attack on Italy and the values on which our democracy is founded.”

“Those who commit such acts are not engaging in politics, nor expressing dissent. They are fuelling antisemitism: the same hatred that has already wounded Italy in the past and that is resurfacing with disturbing ease.”

Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, “strongly condemned the desecration”, and confirmed that he had contacted Fadlun “to express my solidarity.

“Against every ghost from the past, enough antisemitism, enough hatred.”