Italy seems to encounter difficulties in dealing with pro-Hamas hate preachers attacking the Jews and Israel on social media and at public rallies. Some could say that it’s something quite common now in the West; we have all seen hateful demonstrations on US campuses and in central London, but that is exactly the problem, because what we are seeing is a normalization of hateful narrative against the Jews, often disguised as “antizionism”.
But what is Zionism after all, if not the right for the Jews to live in their historical land, to have their nation? How come we haven’t seen such full support, like the one provided to the Palestinian cause, to other ones such as the Kurdish cause, the Tibetan, the Uyghur, the Rohingya, and so on? It seems like the Jews are always the preferred target.
Additionally, some Italy-based preachers did not have an issue verbally attacking the Jewish people for being Jews, for instance, in May 2021, during a street speech in Bologna’s main square, “Piazza Maggiore”, Pakistani preacher Zulfiqar Khan stated that:“…Jews are cruel and they use intelligence to harm others”.
In November 2023, during the Italian mainstream TV show “Dritto e Rovescio”, Khan stated: “The Israelites are terrorists and deceivers according to the Bible,” adding that “deception with the aim of self-interest is part of the Jewish faith.”
Isn’t this antisemitism? It is worth recalling that in Italy the Mancino Law has been in force since 1993 and establishes severe penalties for those who promote racial, ethnic, and religious discrimination. Khan also glorified Hamas and the Houthis on several occasions during his sermons and posted images of Hamas terrorists on his Facebook account.
Khan also defined Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu “the two horns of Satan” on plenty of occasions and in June 2024 he accused Israel of murdering on purpose Palestinian children and pregnant women, of burning them alive and he stated that the only terrorists are the Zionists.
In June 2024, during an interview with local TV, he refused to condemn the October 7th massacre.
In July of 2024, Khan posted two fatwa-like videos on the Islamic Center’s Facebook page where he verbally attacked Italian-Egyptian Allam, accusing him of slandering Islam, apostasy and for speaking at a pro-Israel conference. Allam has been under police protection for many years following his criticism of Islam and his conversion to Christianity.
It is worth noting that on July 9th, during a response to a parliament inquiry on Khan’s activity, the Minister of Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, referred to the preacher’s positions as “intransigent”:
“…he has often expressed intransigent positions regarding issues on the West, on homosexuality, on the role of women and, after the attacks of 7 October, also on the Palestinian people and the Israeli Government, demonstrating appreciation for the actions carried out by Hamas”.
Minister Piantedosi must understand that Khan’s positions are not “intransigent”, they are hateful and extremely dangerous.
In addition, Piantedosi stated that “from 1 January 2023 to 5 July, 22 people linked to religious terrorism/extremism circles were arrested”. It is unclear what the term “religious” means. If they all were radical Islamists, why not state it clearly?
Let’s move on. On October 10th, 2023, just three days after the October 7th massacre, Palestinian activist Mohammed Hannoun (imam in Genoa and president of the Association of Palestinians in Italy, who was photographed years back with moth, Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Meshaal), stated that the attack perpetrated by Hamas was “self-defense”. Such claims were made in an interview with the Italian State TV Rai3.
On January 4th, 2024, Hannoun glorified Yahya Ayyash, Hamas’ notorious bombmaker, sadly known for both developing Hamas’s use of suicide bombings and building many of the explosives used in the attacks, and Saleh al-Arouri, a senior Hamas leader in Lebanon who was killed by Israel in Beirut in a drone strike on January 2nd, 2024.
On March 30th, 2024, during a pro-Palestinian demonstration outside Milan’s Central Station. Hannoun, microphone in hand, concluded his speech inciting to turn all Israeli embassies into centers for Palestinian resistance.
In July 2024, Hannoun praised Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades former commander, Emad Akel, and Mohammad Abu Salmiya, director of the al-Shifa hospital. He also invoked freedom for “all Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons”. On July 19th, during a sermon he held as imam of a mosque in Genoa, he accused Israel of destroying hospitals, schools, and mosques in Gaza.
On July 25th he published a post calling for protests against the upcoming meeting between Italian PM, Giorgia Meloni, and Israeli President, Isaac Herzog.
It is important to recall that in 2021, after several reports to the Anti-Money Laundering Office, Hannoun’s charity ABSPP had its bank accounts frozen due to a series of anomalies. From failure to register in the Revenue Agency register to the massive movement of cash, in some cases to subjects registered in the blacklists of European databases. However, according to the Italian media, the indictment that was launched by the judicial office did not lead anywhere due to the lack of verifiable elements in the Palestinian territories.
In July 0f 2023, the Israeli Ministry of Defense asked the Italian police to seize Hannoun’s money. From the investigation conducted by the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, it emerged that 500,000 euros were available to the architect who in the past was accused by Israel, without any criminal repercussions, of hiding financial support to Palestinian suicide bombers.
Despite the accounts being frozen, in June 2024, Hannoun opened a new charity named “Golden Dome” and started to collect funds once again.
Despite all this, both individuals are still preaching and active on social media platforms.
Hannoun received support from Italian left-wing political figures such as Laura Boldrini, Nicola Fratoianni, Michele Piras, Alessandro Di Battista, and Stefania Ascari, as indicated on several occasions by the Italian press, but this whole situation does not seem to be exclusively political.
On January 27th, 2024, the Shoah Memorial Day, a pro-Palestinian unauthorized demonstration led by Hannoun and other well-known Palestinian activists, was held in Milan’s via Padova, a street with a high presence of Muslims.
During the demonstration, a resident of the street, 25-year-old Mihael Melnic, opened the window of his apartment and exposed a cardboard sign with the writing “Free Gaza from Hamas”, which immediately caused a wave of insults and threats from the crowd. Incredibly, shortly after, his flat was raided by the plainclothes police who questioned Melnic, tried to confiscate his sign (without success), and attempted to intimidate him. Melnic told his story in an interview with the Times of Israel. Melnic exposed the violent nature of certain “pro-Palestinian” demonstrations and their sympathy for Hamas, and some may not have appreciated this.
Taken singularly, these cases may not seem too significant, but once connected, many questions arise. The impression is that things are being dealt with differently if compared to cases regarding ISIS or al-Qaeda because the Palestinian cause is at stake. While the Italian authorities have been swift and strict in taking measures against ISIS supporters (often through deportations), things seem to be different when it comes to the Palestinian cause, especially Hamas.
Since October 7th, the Meloni-led Italian government has shown support for Israel, unlike other European executives; therefore, could this situation rather originate within the internal mechanisms of timeworn risky agreements with inappropriate interlocutors and perpetrated by deep intel apparatuses that go beyond the governments that come and go?
There are two points to keep in mind: the first one has to do with internal security: in the 1970s Italy set an underground agreement with Palestinian terrorist formations, known as “Lodo Moro”, following the Fiumicino massacre in December 1973, in which Italy guaranteed freedom of passage to Palestinian terrorists on their national territory; in exchange, the Palestinians ensured not to strike on Italian soil. Obviously, this does not mean that the agreement is still in force, but it is fair to ask whether some semblance of an approach like the “Lodo” may be active today with the Palestinians.
It is also important to recall that Italy has been very open and tolerant of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), which is present and active on Italian soil. The concept could be summarized in the mantra “They are extremists but not terrorists”, which could be translated as “as long as they spread extremism in certain directions, but do not engage in violent actions against us, it is tolerable”.
Hamas is, after all, the Palestinian branch of the MB and it is well-known how Hamas’s electoral victory in 2007 helped the group to transition from a terrorist organization to a recognized political actor. Additionally, the legitimation, during the Arab Spring, of political Islam through the MB only made things worse, since the Islamists have proven to be way far from democracy and the safeguard of political opposition.
The second point has to do with foreign policy, since Italy’s presence in Libya and Somalia has been closely related to the Islamists and those Middle Eastern countries supporting them. For instance, as exposed in November 2020 by Israeli intelligence analyst Oded Berkowitz, Italy provided the Islamist-led GNA government in Tripoli with diplomatic, intelligence, and counter-terror assistance, side to side with Turkey, while Qatar provided the GNA with economic support. The table shared by Berkowitz came from the US AFRICOM data.
Another interesting issue is the one concerning the liberation of Silvia Romano, an Italian charity worker kidnapped in Kenya in 2018 by al-Shabab terrorists and taken to Somalia. In May 2020, Romano was freed under unclear circumstances, and a photo of her wearing a Turkish special forces vest sparked controversies, with some Italian media accusing the government of having relied on Turkey. The Italian authorities claimed that Romano was recovered by their intelligence and that the photo was fake. However, the Turkish media reported otherwise, publishing the photo and stating that its intelligence (MIT), was primarily involved in the operation.
It is well known that Qatar and Turkey are, together with Iran, the main sponsors of Hamas. The declarations of Turkish President Erdogan and the role played by Doha in supporting the Palestinian terrorist organization leave no doubt. The massacre of October 7th upsets the political-strategic balance between the West and the Middle East. Anti-Semitism has emerged, side by side with hatred towards the Jewish state; Hamas showed its real face as a ruthless, Nazi-sympathizer, terrorist organization deserving to be dealt with as such, rather than as a legitimate political interlocutor, just like ISIS and al-Qaeda.
Unfortunately, until now, unlike what happened over the years with ISIS, very few interventions have been seen against Hamas supporters. The only known case is the deportation of 56-year-old Algerian citizen Amor Branes, in April 2024, for sharing pro-Hamas and jihadist content on social media. Therefore, it would be appropriate to see more arrests and expulsions of Hamas supporters, because its ideology and operational activity is not less dangerous than the one carried out by ISIS or al-Qaeda.
It must also be noted that al-Aqsa Brigades member (leader of the “Rapid Response-Tulkarem Unit”), Yaesh Anan, and two accomplices, were arrested in central Italy in January 2024 only after a request for extradition forwarded by Israel. Anan was directly in touch from Italian soil with Al-Aqsa chief commander in Lebanon, Mounir al-Maqdah, with whom he frequently talked on video call using the Whatsapp application. The investigation papers indicate that Anan and his cell were collecting funds and planning a series of attacks against Israeli politicians, the former war cabinet, and an armed assault like the one that occurred in southern Israel on October 7th, 2023, this time against the Israeli settlement in Avnei Hefetz. The judges of the Italian Appeal Court of L’Aquila refused Israel’s request for extradition, “due to the difficult conditions of Israeli prisons”.
The issue of anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli narrative and activity being spread on behalf of Islamist preachers and activists involves the whole European continent, and not just Italy.
European authorities have been tightening the net on Islamist extremist groups, with high-profile raids, deportations, financial restrictions, and a crackdown on their online activities. France and Germany seem to be the two countries that have so far taken a tougher stance on this type of activity.
For instance, in February 2024, Mahjoub Mahjoubi, an imam in the small southern French town of Bagnols-sur-Ceze, was deported to Tunisia, less than 12 hours after his arrest. In his sermons, the preacher encouraged discrimination against women, radicalization, and he referred to Jewish people as “the enemy”.
In April 2024, Algerian citizen Mohamad Tatait, who held the role of imam at a mosque in Toulouse, was expelled from France after being accused of incitement to hatred and discrimination against Jews.
In July 2024, a 37-year-old Senegalese citizen was arrested in Aube before being expelled. The individual was known to French authorities for his radical speeches and caused unrest in Troyes mosques and relayed, on his social networks where he was followed by thousands of people, messages inciting intolerance and hatred.
In Germany, authorities have taken strong measures against pro-Hamas and pro-Hezbollah supporters, limiting pro-Palestinian marches, while schools have been granted the power to place bans on Palestinian flags and keffiyeh scarves. Across the country, using the pro-Palestinian slogan “From the river to the sea” is a criminal offense. In addition, recent arrests have also been made against Hezbollah cells, while the Shia Islamic Center in Hamburg was shut down.
It would be desirable to see a tougher hand from Italy towards those who support and flank Palestinian and Islamist terrorism, and against those who spread hate speech towards Jews and Israel, because otherwise the situation will very likely get worse in the coming months.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the movement
