Anti-Israel statements and participation by a Hamas-linked imam in Milan’s Ramadan celebrations have led the Jewish community to suspend relations with a local Muslim umbrella body, the Milan Islamic Associations Coordination (CAIM) group.
The break came in mid-August, after CAIM co-ordinator Davide Piccardo was quoted in the media as calling Israel “a state in constant breach of international law and the most elementary human rights by continuing a brutal, racist, criminal occupation”.
Four days earlier, Milanese Jews had decried the participation of the Jordanian Imam Riyadh al-Bustanji in huge ceremonies organised by CAIM to mark the end of Ramadan at a Milan civic arena, and had criticised Milan’s city authorities for taking part.
In June, Al Bustanji appeared in an interview on Al Aqsa TV — run by Hamas — saying that he would bring his daughter to Gaza to learn how to become a martyr for Islam.