The Jewish community in Rome is trying to placate anti-
Israeli and antisemitic provocation by the Italian left and
Muslims by initiating meetings with Muslim organizations.
The Imam of Rome, who was invited to visit Rome's central
beis knesses, cancelled his visit following pressure
from Cairo. An organization of young Muslims that condemned
the cancellation was invited by young members of the
kehilloh to meet with them, but they also failed to
arrive.
Members of the Jewish community say that on the other side of
the Tiber River tensions with the Vatican are also strained.
The Pope has backtracked, adopting an anti-Israeli policy,
and the Vatican's ambassadors in Europe and the US have been
denouncing Israeli policy in Gaza.
In Europe, Italian Jews feel isolated and long for the return
of Berlusconi, the former right-wing prime minister who was
more sympathetic towards Israel and the US. In Naples, as a
show of protest against the mayor's anti-Israeli incitement
the city's chief rabbi, HaRav Pinchas Punturello, refused to
attend the opening of two exhibitions on the annihilation of
Italian Jewry during the Holocaust organized by the city to
mark Holocaust Memorial Day. In October Mayor Rosa Jervolino
compared Israeli policy to the Nazi occupation of Italy in
World War II.
Petitions printed in left-wing newspapers call for boycotts
of Israeli writers. Italy's small Jewish community, numbering
22,000, is feeling isolated following these and other
instances of anti-Israel, antisemitic agitation.
The sun may be setting on Italian Jewry. In Rome's Jewish
Ghetto, Jewish apartment owners are battling to stay put as
haute couture tries to force its way in, offering them high
prices for their apartments. At the far end of the street
near the exit from the ghetto, clothing boutiques are already
starting to open. Between the central beis knesses and
ghetto is a large building housing a Jewish school, but young
Jewish doctor says Rome lacks a yeshiva capable of drawing
baalei batim and young Jews interested in studying
Torah.
