“I ask so that we can clarify: are you Jewish, senator?”. The question, revolt today during the Radio show Anch'io su Radio 1 from the presenter Giorgio Zanchini to the Fratelli d'Italia senator Ester Mieli, sparked controversy from FdI members in the RAI Supervisory Commission.
“Yes, I'm Jewish,” Mieli replied piquedly. “But do you ask everyone? Do you ask all the guests if they are Catholic, evangelical or other? Because you ask me if I'm Jewish, excuse me.” “I asked because we interviewed a student (of the Polytechnic of Turin, ed.), who spoke about anti-Zionism,” Zanchini tried to justify. “I asked her, 'Aren't you worried that your protest will lead to anti-Semitism?' And she replied: 'We are anti-Zionist and not anti-Semitic.' So I think the point of view of those who respond is interesting.” “The point of view must be the same regardless of the religion one professes,” replied the senator from the Brothers of Italy. “Respect applies to everyone and in any case and religion has nothing to do with it”.
This exchange of words in a program dedicated to the resurgences of anti-Semitism in Italy ended up at the center of controversy, not only from the party of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who issued a note regarding the signature of FdI members in the Supervisory Commission. “We express solidarity with Senator Ester Mieli, who this morning at the opening of her connection to the Radio Anch'io program was asked by the host, Giorgio Zanchini, if she was Jewish,” we read in the statement. “A request which, in addition to bringing back gloomy memories, is unacceptable and intolerable especially at a time like this one pervaded by increasingly rampant anti-Semitism, fueled within the Universities by left-wing extremists towards whom we are still awaiting words of condemnation from the left and in particular of the Democratic Party and Elly Schlein. We renew our solidarity with my colleague Mieli, and we hope that these words of ours will be followed by those of all the other political forces”.
The president of the commission, Barbara Floridia, also expressed “full solidarity” with Mieli “for what happened this morning”. “Being asked a direct question about one's religious faith represents a violation of the most intimate sphere, made even more serious by the journalist's intention to connect his colleague's opinion to his religious belief,” commented Floridia on behalf of the whole Commission.
Furthermore, second Adnkronos, the CEO of Rai, Roberto Sergio, contacted the senator by telephone to offer his apologies. Not only that, the Italian Journalists association also intervened: “We hope for a timely intervention by Rai, a clear and immediate position taken by the representative bodies, starting from the Fnsi and the Odg, and that clarity is clarified on the case because such episodes cannot go unnoticed. The Italian Journalists association considers what happened to be very serious and reiterates its closeness to Ester Mieli”, reads the association's note.
Solidarity also from the President of the Senate, Ignazio La Russa, who spoke of the fact as “serious and disturbing”, and from the Ministers of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano, according to whom Zanchini's question “returns to tragic and dark pages of the history of the twentieth century”; of Agriculture, Francesco Lollobrigida, who defines the episode as “unacceptable”; and Tourism, Daniela Santanchè, for whom “what happened It's chilling and above all depressing.” It was also condemned by the opposition, with Italia Viva deputy Maria Elena Boschi, vice-president of the Rai supervisory commission, who asked to “stigmatise what happened”.
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