Gaza op spurs Italian call for 'Nuremberg for Israel' trial

A petition by academics, describing Israel's 'slow genocide' of Palestinians, is one of many signs - including incendiary slogans, swastikas and vandalism - that reflect anti-Semitic undercurrents in Italy. MILAN, Italy – An online petition posted recently by hundreds of Italians during Israel's operation in Gaza calls for creation of “an international tribunal," in which the State of Israel and its people will be put on trial for the “slow genocide of the entire [Palestinian] people.” Signed by 525 Italians, most of them academics, the petition does not target just Israel Defense Forces' commanders or the government of Benjamin Netanyahu: The signatories want “the whole State of Israel” and its “racist society” to appear in an international court, in a Nuremberg-like trial, for war crimes. And not just due to Operation Protective Edge, but because of events in "the past, the present and the foreseeable future.” This petition is but one example of the increasingly sharp criticism in Italy of Operation Protective Edge, criticism which some are saying is tainted by anti-Semitism. Indeed, the petitioners literally called for a “Nuremberg for Israel” – a reference to the military tribunals created by the Allied forces after World War II, in which 24 German officials were tried for war crimes. The document, whose intent is ostensibly symbolic, has been widely publicized online. It originally appeared on a small academic website, Historia Magistra, and later ended up in the online edition of Il Manifesto, a respected left-leaning newspaper. The petition is titled “Noi Accusiamo” (We Accuse) after Émile Zola’s famous "J’Accuse," an open letter published on the front page of a newspaper in France, denouncing the widespread anti-Semitism there in the 1890s, sparked by the Dreyfus Affair (in which a Jewish officer in the French army was unjustly convicted of treason). Read More