Italian professor urges ‘unfriend your Jewish friends on Facebook, even the good ones’

He went on: “On complex issues such as the conflict in the Middle East, the path forward must be one of dialogue and critical discussion, not isolation and what approaches ideological censorship.”

Pedestrians walk past the campus of the University of Palermo in Italy (Image: Wikimedia Commons)[Missing Credit]

However, while Midiri publicly condemned the comments, he did not confirm whether Nivarra would face any disciplinary action for his incendiary remarks. 

Commenting on X, Italy’s minister of university and research, Anna Maria Bernini, wrote that Nivarra’s remarks “not only offend the Jewish people but also all those who identify with the values of respect and civil coexistence.”

In previous Facebook posts, Nivarra wrote that “there are no good Israelis,” and that “Israeli society is morally rotten.” He also said there was “only one difference” between the Israel Defense Forces and the Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, which is that Eichmann claimed to be following orders, whereas “the IDF soldiers are happy to do what they do.”

Italy has a Jewish population of about 27,000, according to a demographic study performed by Professor Sergio Della Pergola of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The Foundation Contemporary Jewish Documentation Centre (CDEC) – an independent institute for Italian Jewish history and culture based in Milan – registered 877 antisemitic incidents in 2024 compared to 454 in 2023.

Last month, following a string of antisemitic incidents, Davide Romano, director of the Museum of the Jewish Brigade in Milan, told press that Jew-hatred has reached the highest levels he’s ever witnessed: “The level of pro-Hamas propaganda in Italy is insane,” he said.