On the anti-Semitism bill, Fassino challenges Schlein’s stance: “Voting ‘no’ is a mistake. We risk creating ambiguity.”

This is Piero Fassino’s response. The reformist MP opposes Schlein’s stance on the anti-Semitism bill. “The debate on the bill is marred by two flawed arguments,” is the view of the former secretary of the DS, reiterated yesterday during the marathon meeting of PD MPs. During the meeting, the PD leader, visibly moved, recalled her family’s history linked to the tragedy of the Holocaust. She went on to explain that “if the right does not amend the law, the PD will vote against it”. The crux of the matter remains the IHRA’s definition of antisemitism: according to the PD, it could harm or penalise those who criticise Netanyahu.

But “It is not true that this law restricts the right to criticise the Israeli government. Indeed, for the past three years, Italian streets have been filled with demonstrations criticising the Israeli government, featuring even extreme slogans, without anyone having been prosecuted,” Fassino explained to his colleagues, who had been meeting for around four hours. “It makes even less sense not to vote for the anti-Semitism bill as a means of opposing the Netanyahu government. The harshest criticism of the Netanyahu government is justified and necessary, but this cannot mean abandoning a firm and clear commitment to combating anti-Semitism.”

The risk, according to Fassino – and he is not alone; other reformists are also sceptical of Schlein’s position – is that, on such a sensitive issue, the PD may end up appearing ambiguous. In his speech, the MP then quoted Rabin and his words: “Fighting terrorism as if the problem of peace did not exist, fighting for peace as if terrorism did not exist. The same distinction should be applied today, clearly separating the strongest criticism of Netanyahu’s policies from the commitment to combating anti-Semitism. Confusing the two fronts is a mistake”.