Bologna Jewish leader: After synagogue attack, concrete actions are necessary

Protesters in Bologna turned violent, targeting the city's synagogue with vandalism and explosives.

By GIORGIA VALENTE/THE MEDIA LINE JANUARY 14, 2025 22:06

Graffiti on the Bologna Synagogue reading JUSTICE FREE GAZA. January 11, 2025. (photo credit: SCREENSHOT/X/VIA SECTION 27A OF THE COPYRIGHT ACT)

A violent protest in Bologna on Saturday night escalated into an attack on the city’s historic synagogue, as demonstrators vandalized the building and hurled explosives, causing significant concern within the Jewish community.

The unrest was initially sparked by the resurfacing of footage related to the death of 19-year-old Ramy Elgaml, an Egyptian Italian who died in a police chase last November. Protesters, angered by the apparent police involvement in Elgaml’s death, took to the streets across Italy, with demonstrations turning particularly violent in Bologna.

During the protest, demonstrators spray-painted slogans such as “Justice for a free Gaza” alongside Elgaml’s name on the synagogue’s walls. Daniele De Paz, president of Bologna’s Jewish community, told The Media Line that the march deliberately passed the synagogue on Via de’ Gombruti, where attackers broke through police barriers and targeted the building with Molotov cocktails and fireworks. “This route was clearly premeditated,” De Paz stated, emphasizing that the attack was a deliberate act of antisemitism, diverting attention from the protest’s original anti-police focus.

Pro-Palestinian protestors hold a banner during a demonstration demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, as the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas continues, in Rome, Italy, January 27, 2024. The banner reads: ''Cease fire! Justice for Palestine, peace for two peoples (credit: REUTERS/CLAUDIA GRECO)

Rise in Italian antisemitism

The attack left the community shaken, highlighting a troubling rise in antisemitic incidents in Italy since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7, 2023. De Paz expressed concerns over increasing hostility toward Bologna’s Jewish community, noting that public support has waned while criticism of Israel has intensified. He also criticized the Bologna municipality for continuing to display a Palestinian flag on a government building, despite the community’s appeals to remove it due to safety concerns.

Italian leaders, including Bologna Mayor Matteo Lepore and Senate President Ignazio La Russa, condemned the violence. Israel’s ambassador to Italy, Jonathan Peled, called the synagogue attack a “serious antisemitic attack which must be condemned with absolute firmness.”

Elgaml’s family distanced themselves from the violence, stating, “We believe Ramy’s memory should be a symbol of unity, not of division or destruction. We dissociate ourselves from any political use of our son’s name.”

Authorities have identified some of the attackers as members of pro-Palestinian social centers. The Bologna Jewish community now calls for more concrete measures to ensure their safety.