{"id":425362,"date":"2026-05-04T20:44:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T20:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/425362\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T20:44:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T20:44:13","slug":"florence-officials-condemn-threats-against-jews-and-israeli-consul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/425362\/","title":{"rendered":"Florence officials condemn threats against Jews and Israeli consul"},"content":{"rendered":"

Italian officials from across the political spectrum condemned antisemitic and threatening graffiti found Sunday on walls in central Florence, after vandals targeted Jews and Marco Carrai, Israel\u2019s honorary consul in Tuscany, with slogans invoking violence and death.<\/p>\n

The graffiti appeared on a wall in Via dei Banchi and in the underpass of the Santa Maria Novella train station, according to La Nazione. The phrases included \u201cZionists hanged,\u201d \u201cCarrai die,\u201d \u201cJews burned alive,\u201d \u201cJews to the stake,\u201d \u201cNo Jews,\u201d and \u201cFree Palestine,\u201d along with a swastika, according to Italian media reports. City sanitation workers removed the graffiti after it was discovered. <\/p>\n

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1 View gallery <\/p>\n

\"Antisemitic<\/a>\"Antisemitic<\/p>\n

Antisemitic graffiti on walls in Florence <\/p>\n

(Photo: Screenshot, X)<\/p>\n

Florence Mayor Sara Funaro said the city would not allow such messages to stand. \u201cThe antisemitism that resurfaces on the walls of our city is something serious and unacceptable,\u201d Funaro said. \u201cToday we woke up to writings that incite hatred, violence and death, bringing back to memory the darkest years of our history.\u201d <\/p>\n

She said the slogans \u201chave nothing to do with the values of Florence and the identity of our community\u201d and expressed solidarity with Carrai. \u201cFlorence responds to hatred and violence with unity,\u201d Funaro said. \u201cWe have already ordered the immediate removal of the writings. At the same time, I hope those responsible will be identified as soon as possible. Florence does not deserve all this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carrai thanked law enforcement officials who protect him and his family, saying he has been the target of repeated personal threats. He also thanked local and national political figures who, he said, have supported and defended him. He criticized those who condemn anonymous vandals while remaining silent toward public voices that, in his view, fuel hatred more subtly.<\/p>\n

Tuscany Regional President Eugenio Giani said he stood with Carrai and condemned the intimidation. \u201cEvery form of threat or intimidation is unacceptable and must be firmly condemned, because it strikes not only the individual but the proper functioning of public and democratic debate,\u201d Giani said. \u201cTuscany is and must remain a land where dissent is always expressed with respect for people and institutions, without violent or intimidating drifts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dario Nardella, a member of the European Parliament for the center-left Democratic Party and former mayor of Florence, said the threats against Carrai must be condemned \u201cwithout hesitation.\u201d He called on institutions and civil society to respond through education, respect, and schools, saying, \u201cThere is a climate of hatred in the world that produces even more hatred.\u201d <\/p>\n

Nardella linked that climate partly to the war in the Middle East and tensions in the Mediterranean. Cristina Manetti, Tuscany\u2019s regional culture councilor, called the graffiti \u201canother serious and unacceptable act of intimidation\u201d and said such episodes attack civil coexistence and mutual respect. <\/p>\n

The incident follows other antisemitic episodes in Italy, including the recent vandalism of Holocaust memorial stumbling stones in Turin, and comes during a broader rise in tensions over the Israel-Hamas war that began with Hamas\u2019 October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.<\/p>\n

First published: 20:19, 05.04.26 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Italian officials from across the political spectrum condemned antisemitic and threatening graffiti found Sunday on walls in central…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":425363,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-425362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}