Letters
Letters to the editor •
A dilemma in the wider political arena: do Conte and Schlein want proper primaries?
Who has written to the editor-in-chief, Claudio Cerasa
3 OCT 26
Translated by AI
Photo: ANSA
To the Editor – Tertium non datur. Kind regards.
Roberto Alatri
The leaders of the PD and the M5S have many faults, but on one point they are absolutely right: if anyone is keen to put forward a third candidate, there are the primaries to offer an alternative to the current leadership. The real question is whether Conte and Schlein genuinely want proper, open primaries, or whether they are trying to buy time—first the manifesto, first the electoral law, first the Constitutional Court, then Carnival will come first, then Easter, then Easter Monday—in order to do everything they can to determine whether these primaries really need to go ahead.
To the Editor – I believe that the Israeli army has committed not only mistakes but also atrocities in Gaza. But I do not believe that these atrocities were committed deliberately, out of ideology. The war in Gaza was an urban war: dramatic, brutal, lethal. But to transform that brutal war—dictated by a duty to defend—into an ideological war, dictated by a deliberate intent, as ‘Naza’ claims, to kill civilians simply because they are civilians, is to lose sight of what has happened from 7 October to the present day. I do not agree with everything the IDF said in the report you have summarised, but I think that anyone who loved ‘Naza’ must come to terms with a reality of which the IDF’s version is also a part.
Maria Mattei
Another useful point for reflecting on what the war in Gaza was, without downplaying the mistakes, horrors and tragedies. Yesterday, the Jerusalem Post reported on a document from the Israeli army stating that the IDF had identified 170 people killed in Gaza who had been presented as civilian journalists but who allegedly had operational links with Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad or other terrorist organisations. The IDF stated that it had verified the identities using documents published by the organisations themselves and materials recovered during military operations in the Strip. Among the cases listed are ten relating to individuals who, according to the IDF, in addition to working for or collaborating with news organisations such as Reuters, the Anadolu Agency and Palestine Now, are said to have served as snipers, commanders, trainers or propagandists. Some, again according to the Israeli army, are said to have taken direct part in the attack on 7 October. Some of these names, the JP notes, had been listed by international organisations amongst the journalists killed in Gaza. Reporters Without Borders had cited one of them in a complaint to the International Criminal Court. And several names also appeared in the database of the Committee to Protect Journalists. This has nothing to do with ‘Naza’. It does, however, relate to a more important issue: trying not to settle for simple answers when discussing the Middle East and the war between Israel and Hamas.
To the Editor – The debate within the PD over the electoral reform proposed by the centre-right and the coalition primaries for the ‘broad coalition’ is providing moments of genuine, unintentional comedy. The PD denounces a reform that would allow voters to choose only three out of six candidates, viewing it as a curtailment of democracy. Yet it then calls for coalition primaries with a ‘revolutionary’ formula: choose one of the two candidates we have already selected, with no possibility of a third candidate. The paradox is curious. Three choices out of six would be too few and suspect; one choice out of two – both pre-selected by the leadership – would, by contrast, become a triumph of participation. When others decide, it is oligarchy; when the party decides, it is unity. Ultimately, the real mystery is not who controls the candidacies, but how one can denounce the lack of choice in electoral reform whilst, through primaries, serving one’s members and voters a menu consisting strictly of a single course.
Alberto Bianchi
Mr Yusef Font Saad has requested the publication of the following correction: With regard to the articles published by Il Foglio on 22 and 26 September 2026, I, Yusef Fonte Saad, wish to clarify that I have never been involved in, supported, collaborated with or been associated with any terrorist organisation, terrorist cell or terrorist activity whatsoever. I further state that I have never been charged with, prosecuted for or convicted of any criminal offence in connection with terrorism or any other unlawful conduct. No court, public authority or competent body has ever determined, found or established that I have engaged in any terrorist or criminal activity. I also wish to clarify that I have not resided in Libya since 2010 and that I have carried out my professional activities between Spain and Dubai as an interpreter and translator.