Anti-Semitism in Italy

It appears that Jew hatred is alive and well in Italy.

In October 2009 Italian Parliament voted to commission a study of anti-Semitism in the country.
Now the committee’s report has been released, and its findings are well worth attending to.

Another study recently published by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, a think-tank affiliated with Germany’s Social Democratic Party confirms the high levels of anti-Semitism in Italy.

Fully 22% of Italians between the ages of 18 and 29 are hostile to Jews, and the figure is even higher among males in northern Italy.

One-fourth of Italians surveyed agreed with the statement: “Considering Israel’s policy, I can understand why people do not like Jews”.

One-third of Italians regard Jews as “not very nice,” and one-fourth don’t consider them “fully Italian”.
Among Italians between the ages of 18 and 34, 22% are anti-Semitic, even though 71% of them “had never had any direct contact with Jews”.

In recent years, Italy witnessed a horrible wave of attacks on Israel and the Jews. The city of Turin hosted a “cultural festival” where the image of Shimon Peres was used as a shoe-throwing target. For one euro, the students had the chance to hit the face of Israel’s president, who was fitted with a Nazi-style Jewish nose.

Jewish politicians, journalists and jurists have been named on a hit-list as “slaves of the Jewish mafia” by a website Holywar.org, illustrated by pictures of handcuffs made in the shape of a Magen David. The author of this article is also listed in that black list.

In July 2011 a website called for the “blacklisting” of more than 160 Jewish professors who teach at Italian universities.

Violent attacks on the Jews are also on the rise. On the day of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s visit to Rome last June, an elderly Jewish man, Raffi Cohen, was found stabbed to death in the doorway of his home in Rome’s Nomentano quarter.

An Israeli student at the University of Genoa has been harassed and threatened with death by Muslim students shouting at him “Allahu Akbar” (Allah is great) and “Itbach el Yahud” (slaughter the Jews.) Another Israeli student at the University of Turin, Amit Peer, confessed that “the Jews here are hiding their own identity because they risk becoming a target”.

See it here;  http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/10810#.TrvLPXOX2RY

Hey now...let's just ponder something for a moment....is it possible that Italy's government and financial markets and economic well being maybe are being pulled down because God is cursing this country?  Since God sees all things of the heart, He didn't need to wait for the results of the report and the publishing of this article to see that a large number of Italians hate Jews.

I guess we will need to watch and see.  "I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you."....that sure seems pretty clear to me.

Hat tip to Julie E.