For Francesca Albanese, the Anti-Semitism Bill becomes a pro-Apartheid bill

“The pro-Apartheid bill (this is it): it will prevent anyone from saying that Israel is a racist state that practises the crime of Apartheid – institutionalised racial segregation that has degenerated into genocide. It will turn UN and other condemnations into anti-Semitism and make Italy a pioneer of pro-Israel censorship.” On the day that the general debate on the Anti-Semitism Bill begins in the Chamber of Deputies, Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur, takes a stand in a post on X and attacks the bill – which was approved by the Constitutional Affairs Committee at Montecitorio on Wednesday and in support of which even Senator for Life Liliana Segre had called for unity – because it contains theIHRA’s definition of anti-Semitism (the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance), which is considered controversial by a section of the left because, they believe, it would label any radical criticism of Israel as anti-Semitic.

In protest against the Anti-Semitism Bill, sit-ins are planned today across Italy, from Milan to Catania, including one outside Montecitorio organised by over 250 organisations. The initiative is part of the national mobilisation currently under way in Rome and dozens of other cities, organised by over 300 groups in total – including social, political, cultural and trade union organisations – which are calling for the withdrawal of a law that infringes upon freedom of expression and the right to political criticism. This mobilisation will continue in the coming days, right up to – and beyond – the Global Day of Action for Palestine on 10 October. The vote on the bill is expected to be scheduled after that on the electoral law, but in the meantime, Sinistra per Israele has already taken action by launching an appeal “addressed to the centre-left, urging it not to withhold its support for the bill”, according to a statement by its president, Emanuele Fiano, a former MP for the Democratic Party who had announced in these very columns that he would resign if his party voted “no” in committee. On that occasion, the Democrats abstained precisely because of the Ihra definition, having previously called for it to be replaced with the Jerusalem Declaration.