At the sit-in against the anti-Semitism bill: chants in support of Hamas, insults and brawls – scenes from the Gaza camp (which has already split)

They have gathered in the square to protest against a draft bill – the one against anti-Semitism – which they describe as “a threat to freedom”. But they end up almost coming to blows, hitting each other in the face with flagpoles, when some of the demonstrators display the symbols of Hamas and Hezbollah. They even take issue with Amnesty, the political parties and organisations that have organised the sit-in outside Montecitorio. So much so that Silvio, a man in his seventies and a member of the ANPI, refuses to accept it: “I’ve been to Lebanon and I know those Hezbollah people. I’m not talking to you lot.” It marks the return of the Gaza issue to the election campaign, whilst the government continues to reject sanctions against Israeli settlements.

Yesterday was the day on which the debate on the draft bill to combat anti-Semitism was due to resume in the Constitutional Affairs Committee. In reality, the debate was subsequently postponed until next week, and the bill is due to reach the Chamber on 2 October. Be that as it may, the protesters were there, and in a Piazza Montecitorio sweltering in the heat, yet another episode of the ‘clams’ intifada’ – which has been stirring up Italian squares since 7 October – unfolded. There are flags of the Five Star Movement, its youth wing, the Youth Network, the CGIL trade union, the ANPI, and Rifondazione Comunista, T-shirts bearing the slogan ‘Fuck Israel’, and placards reading ‘Free Palestine from the river to the sea’. A protester holding a leaflet from Amnesty International explains to a couple of tourists sitting at the tables outside a Starbucks: ‘Criticising Israel is not anti-Semitism. Stop the Gagging’, explains to a couple of tourists sitting at the tables outside Starbucks: ‘Today they’re passing a law that favours a state which is committing genocide…’. Thirty seconds of silence are observed in response to this attempt to silence dissent. Most of the patrons are wearing keffiyehs despite the forty degrees in the shade. A fellow journalist rightly suggests a solution: let’s stop covering outdoor events scheduled for one o’clock. A petition on change.org (just kidding). Among the speakers were representatives of the Young Democrats.

Riccardo Ricciardi, the M5S group leader in the Chamber of Deputies, arrives at the sit-in looking very tanned: “The bill is a political manoeuvre to condemn the protests in support of Gaza.” Yet it was you who introduced the much-contested IHRA definition when Giuseppe Conte was at Palazzo Chigi. Response: “It’s a matter of political timing. Bringing it up today means equating the protesters with those who are anti-Semitic.” These words earn the Five Star Movement member praise from those around him. A lady approaches him: “In my opinion, you’re wasted in the M5S.” It is his party colleague Stefania Ascari who receives the loudest applause. She asks for a thought for Alessandro Di Battista and says, “The bill is abominable and its sole aim is to silence dissent. We’ll take your concerns to that building.” Marco Grimaldi, an Avs MP, is present. Laura Boldrini of the Democratic Party also makes an appearance: “I would vote ‘no’; let’s see what the group decides. I’m optimistic. Those in the PD who vote in favour are making a serious mistake – a gift to Netanyahu.” Among those thought to be in favour are Piero Fassino and the other reformists. But Boldrini’s words are interrupted by moments of tension. At one point, a middle-aged woman raises a trio of flags aloft: those of Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran. Not content with that, she begins to chant “Long live Hamas, Hezbollah, eternal glory to Nasrallah”, a phrase reminiscent of Zanzariana. At this, Gianluca Peciola of Sinistra Italiana asks for the flags to be lowered, but this only sparks a minor scuffle. Even Maya Issa, coordinator of the Palestinian Youth Movement, calls for a united front and to “raise the only flag that unites us: the Palestinian flag”. Although even before that moment, in the section of the square scorched by the midday sun, stickers bearing the words “7 October, Palestinian Resistance Day” were being passed around.

We asked Ascari, chair of the inter-parliamentary group for peace between Palestine and Israel, about the display of flags, but his reply was: “I didn’t see them”. At the end of the sit-in, those waving the flags accused the organisers of failing to intervene: “The Conte government is to blame for this bill”. In effect, the divisions within the broad coalition have been replicated in the Gaza context. And to think that the opposition and civil society organisations certainly have far more substantial grounds on which to put the government in a difficult position, given that Meloni has decided, for the time being, not to follow the UK and France in imposing sanctions on Israeli settlements in the West Bank. She is convinced, along with Tajani, that the solution can only be a European one. And that it is better, for now – despite the gradual distancing from Netanyahu – to steer clear of the issue. As the saying goes: there’s plenty of time for the election campaign, even on the Middle East.