Rivlin reaches out to threatened Jewish-Italian senator and Auschwitz survivor

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin reached out to Lilianna Segre, a Jewish-Italian Senator for Life who said she receives about 200 hate messages a day.

Milan Police last week decided to provide Segre, 89, who is a Holocaust survivor, with a police escort over the threats.

“I was appalled to hear the news that antisemitic threats against you require you to receive protection to ensure your safety, and deeply regret that the circumstances of me writing to you are so distressing. Your personal mission, your strength and your bravery are a role model for us in Israel and for Jewish communities around the world,” Rivlin wrote in a letter in which he invited Serge to visit him in Jerusalem.

“No words can adequately express my horror and disgust that you should be exposed to such criminal behaviour. As Holocaust survivor, you have seen the terrible and tragic consequences of antisemitism if not stopped; as a Life Senator of the Italian Republic, you have been recognised ‘for outstanding patriotic merits’; as a campaigner for justice and against racism and antisemitism, you work tirelessly for a better world,” Rivlin also wrote.

Segre was deported to Auschwitz in 1944, when she was 13.

The Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem said in a statement: “It is unacceptable that hate and xenophobia still plague our post-Holocaust society. Holocaust survivors like Senator Segre are living witnesses to the horrors that are possible when antisemitism goes unchecked.”

The statement noted that Italy’s president, Sergio Mattarella, was scheduled to attend in January the Fifth World Holocaust Forum at Yad Vashem, under the banner, “Remembering the Holocaust, Fighting Antisemitism.”

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