Lamberto Giannini: “Italy? On anti-Semitism is vigilant!”
The Chief of Police, awarded the “King David Award”, exposes the atout of the tricolour police forces in the effective protection of Jews
In Italy, the Chief of the State Police and Director General of Public Security, has been Lamberto Giannini since March 4 of this year. Born in 1964, a Roman official, prefect and policeman, he graduated in law at La Sapienza University and entered the Ministry of the Interior as deputy commissioner, initially serving at the Police Headquarters in Turin and the capital.
On November 7 in Krakow, Lamberto Giannini was awarded the “King David Award” by the Europan Jewish Association for his work in protecting the Jewish communities residing in the Peninsula. Many Jews say they feel much safer in Italy than in other European countries, both Eastern and Western.
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What have Italy and the Italian police done more than others in the fight against anti-Semitism?
“In Italy there is a great deal of attention on this issue by institutions and by all police forces. This is also for historical reasons. We feel the duty to protect a community that, in the past, was hit by a serious attack such as the one on the synagogue in Rome in 1982, where a child lost his life. In recent years there have been many measures against associations investigated and then brought to trial on charges of anti-Semitism, something that began especially in the nineties following the introduction of the Mancino Law against racial discrimination. More recently, we must remember the trial against ‘Stormfront’, an online platform that had connections with American supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan and that published unspeakable and denialist things. Even going so far as to justify what happened with the Shoah and identifying Jews as the absolute evil”.
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Is it, therefore, prevalently a question of a greater operative capacity of the Italian forces of law and order compared to those of other countries?
“Not only. An added value is given by the relationship with the Jewish communities. The people of the communities report anomalous situations, give us indications and point out events that they consider particularly critical. This ongoing relationship makes all the difference. The best example is the Jewish community of Rome, which is very strongly rooted in the territory. Of course, the operational dimension is also important. Another of our strong points is the constant coordination and exchange of information between the various Italian police forces, which allows for greater effectiveness on the operational level”.
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Has anything changed with the outbreak of the health crisis?
“Anti-Semitism itself has not changed. What has changed are the issues and emergencies to which talk of anti-Semitism is linked by some. The pandemic has reinforced online discourse about the existence of a conspiracy. The Web is a vast field in which so many people express hate speech. These are crimes that, as such, are prosecuted. We’re seeing how many people who are being sued often don’t even realize the seriousness of the gestures and phrases they’re expressing that instead have legal consequences.”
Consegnato al Capo della @poliziadistato Lamberto Giannini il premio “King David Award”, legato all’attività svolta per la tutela delle comunità ebraiche italiane, per la prevenzione del terrorismo e per l’impegno della Polizia nella lotta contro l’antisemitismo. Mazal Tov! pic.twitter.com/EOoHtzH7bu
— Comunità Ebraica di Roma (@romaebraica) November 9, 2021
Do you see anti-Semitism in the pro-Palestinian demonstrations taking place in Italy?
“It is necessary to make a big distinction between the danger of terrorism of ‘lone wolves’ and pro-Palestinian activities about which sometimes hateful slogans have emerged. The latter have generated tensions in the past, but these are gradually fading. In the last years we had moments of tension because of the participation of the Jewish Brigade in the demonstrations of April 25th. This is not to be confused with the discourse of the ‘lone wolves’, which is extremely different, even though it exists, because the international facts show that the risk of terrorism is always present”.
(this in-depth article belongs to a special report realized by the journalist Luca Steinmann for the Italian newspaper “La Verità”)
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