Italy will never recognize a unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said. Berlusconi at a celebration of Israel\’s 63rd birthday praised the Jewish state as the only democracy in the Middle East. He was the guest of honor Wednesday at an Israeli Independence Day reception hosted by Israeli Ambassador Gideon Meir.
The local priest in a small town in northwest Italy has been named Righteous among Nations for saving a Jewish family during World War II.
The Italian government has launched a national campaign to collect material related to the Holocaust and Jewish history in Italy for inclusion in two new museums. Called \”Family Stories,\” the campaign was launched Jan. 27, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and will run through June 30.
Italian leaders expressed anger and solidarity with the Jewish community after a neo-Nazi Internet forum published a list of \”influential\” Italian Jews on its website. The Italian media Wednesday called the list on the American white supremacist website Stormfront \”a blacklist of hate.\” The list included journalists, businesspeople, politicians, artists and others. Politicians denounced the Stormfront posting and called for action against online hatred. The list \”reminds us of the most shameful page in our history when, based on similar lists, thousands of Italians were expelled from schools, universities and workplaces and were deprived of citizenship and persecuted,\” Nicola Zingaretti, president of the Province of Rome, said in a statement.
Italy\’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi fended off challenges from the left and the right to narrowly survive two no-confidence votes in Parliament. Protests broke out Tuesday in the streets of Rome following the vote, and the country\’s political future remained unclear. With the revolt by former ally Gianfranco Fini, Berlusconi does not hold a clear enough majority in Parliament to govern effectively, and some analysts predicted that the embattled prime minister might resign and call early elections.
World Jewish Congress officials met with Pope Benedict XVI and separately with senior Italian officials, praising Italy for its support of Israel. WJC President Ronald Lauder told Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini in their meeting Friday that the Jewish world \”deeply appreciates\” its \”important and well-established friendship with the Italian government\” and also appreciates \”Italian attention to the safety of the people of Israel.\” Italy, Lauder later said, \”has a key role in advancing the peace process in the Middle East.\”\n
After a meeting with the pope, Jewish leaders said the beatification of Nazi-era Pope Pius XII likely would be postponed
Why had he never talked about his feelings for Italy? Who were his ancestors, and what had it meant to him to be an Italian Jew? And what might it come to mean to his daughter?
Teachers and administrators from Jewish preschools in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Israel traveled to Italy to learn about the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education
An ancient Japanese legend holds that anyone who folds 1,000 origami cranes will be granted a wish. If three L.A.-area day schools were to get one, it might be for peace and understanding.
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