Israel Matzav: Massive pro-Israel demonstration in Rome on Thursday

Monday, October 04, 2010

Massive pro-Israel demonstration in Rome on Thursday

I had the honor of meeting Fiama Nirenstein at the World Jewish Congress conference five weeks ago. At the time, she told me about this demonstration in Rome coming up on Thursday.

Dear friends,

as you know, we are preparing a demostration at European level for this Thursday, the 7th of October, under the title "For the truth, for Israel". I'm sending you now some information about our work in case you are around and you want to partecipate, and also to let you know that working for the truth about Israel is possible.
A very small wonderful group of politicians, intellectuals, journalists, youngsters, have helped day after day to mobilize forces, fund-raising, printing and spreading leaflets and materials, calling to MPs and VIPs in Europe and of course mostly in Italy. Beyond the continuous presence of Sharon in my office and mine in the Parliament, we have an entire little group of press officers and Pr volunteering. The people that have worked with me have done it for free, out of love for Israel, and now we are anxiously fixing the last details, recall, translations etc.

A wonderful daily newspaper, Il Foglio, has collected with our help a series of article about the delegitimization of Israel and is printing them day after day with the logo and the date of our demonstration. We are surprised of the simpathy and the attention we collected in these days by MPs, Ministers, writers, journalists, citizens. The collection of names of people that want speak at what we called a "Rhetorical Marathon" - which means a series of 5 minutes speeches - is so long that we worry about the real possibility of giving the floor to everybody.

You will find hereby the invitation and the first article that has been printed on "Il Foglio" on the issue.

Hoping and working for the best, we promise to keep you updated. And if by chance you are in Rome on Thursday, come with us to say "enough of the double standard, enough of the delegitimization of Israel!".

Fiamma
DEMONSTRATION

Thursday, October 7 at 18:00 at the Temple of Hadrian (Tempio di Adriano), Piazza di Pietra, Rome

WHY YOU MUST BE THERE

Because it is necessary to put an end to the barrage of lies that are thrown on
Israel every day;

Because Israel is the only country that is being attacked for whatever it does:
whether its athletes are participating in a tournament, whether its films competing in an international film festival, or whether it is defending its people from missile and terrorist attacks;

Because at this event, politicians, intellectuals, and young people who want the
truth about Israel will participate from all over Europe.

ENOUGH OF THE DOUBLE STANDARD!

80% OF THE UN RESOLUTIONS OF CONDEMNATION ARE AGAINST ISRAEL

Why doesn’t the UN care when Iran hangs homosexuals and stones women,
in Darfur a massacre is takes place in silence, and in China justice is to be shot in the head?

Promoters of the initiative: Fiamma Nirenstein, journalist and MP, Vice-president of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Italian Chamber of Deputies; Giuliano Ferrara, editor in chief of "Il Foglio" daily; French philosopher Shmuel Trigano; Dutch MEP Bastiaan Belder (Epp); German MP Gert Weisskirchen (Spd); president of the Jewish Community of Rome Riccardo Pacifici; professor and writer Giorgio Israel; journalists Giuseppe Caldarola, Angelo Pezzana, Daniele Scalise, Carlo Panella; producer of musical events David Zard; Anita Friedman, president, “Appuntamento a Gerusalemme”.

Among the people who have joined the initiative: José Maria Aznar, President of "Friends of Israel Initiative"; Nobel Prize and Senator for life Rita Levi Montalcini; professor and Senator Umberto Veronesi; writer Roberto Saviano, author of "Gomorrah"; Israeli historian Benny Morris; Dore Gold, former Israeli Ambassador to the UN; Israeli Brigadier General (Res) Yosef Kuperwasser; Israeli Vice PM Silvan Shalom; Yuli Edelstein, Israeli Minister of Public Diplocacy and Diaspora Affairs; Franco Frattini, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs; Bruce Bawer, author of "While Europe slept"; Melanie Phillips, journalist; Phyllis Chesler, professor emerita of psychology and women' studies at the College of Staten Island; Amir Fakhravar, Iranian dissident in exile; Farid Ghadry, President of Syrian Reform Party; Russian Senator Vladimir Sloutsker; Members of the European Parliament: Hannu Takkula (Finland), Marco Scurria (Italy), Bastiaan Belder (NL), Corina Cretu (Romania), Pablo Arias (Spain), Magdi Cristiano Allam (Italy), Antonio Lopez Istùriz (Spain);Tomas Sandell, Director of the Europan Coalition for Israel (Finland); Mara Carfagna, Italian Minister for Equal Opportunities; Renato Brunetta, Italian Minister of Public Administration; Gideon Meir, Israeli Ambassador to Italy; writers Nicolai Lilin, Rosa Matteucci; singers Lucio Dalla, Massimo Ranieri, Chiara Iezzi, Raiz (ex "Almamegretta"); film director Cristina Comencini; Giorgio Albertazzi; film producer Riccardo Tozzi (Cattleya); Davood Karimi, President of Association of Iranian Political Refugees in Italy; Dounia Ettaib, President of Arab Women in Italy; editors in chief of the newspapers, "Libero" (Maurizio Belpietro), "Il Tempo" (Mario Sechi), "L'Occidentale" (Giancarlo Loquenzi), "Il Riformista" (Antonio Polito), “Libertiamo.it” (Carmelo Palma); journalists Paolo Mieli, Massimo Bordin, Toni Capuozzo, Alain Elkann, Ernesto Galli Della Loggia, Maria Latella, Pierluigi Battista, Barbara Palombelli; many MPs from all the political parties, among them: Walter Veltroni, Furio Colombo, Enrico Pianetta, Francesco Rutelli, Italo Bocchino, Gianni Vernetti, Benedetto Della Vedova, Giovanna Melandri, Fabrizio Cicchitto, Ferdinando Adornato, Gaetano Quagliariello, Margherita Boniver and many others.

The de-legitimization of Israel comes from all latitudes and without any restraints. Israel, the most openly threatened country in the world, is condemned by the international institutions and media for whatever it does, whether it is seeking to defend itself from terrorist attacks, trying to stop the supply of weapons to Gaza, or simply doing the normal activities that any democratic country does.

Its scientific, cultural, social, economic, and sport achievements are constantly boycotted, even with violence. The double standard is the normal standard applied to Israel: the UN, dedicating to it 80% of its resolutions, condemn Israel at every step, while countries that systematically violate human rights and commit massacres, are never punished.

But a large part of the public opinion is tired of this lie: the de-legitimization of Israel undermines democracy, corrupts international institutions that should protect peace and fight against terrorism. It legitimates oppressive and violent cultures against women, homosexuals and freedom of thought. In fact, it justifies anti-democratic cultures. For this reason we want to say "enough" to all the lies about Israel and to claim that Europe loves Israel and wants it living in peace.