Commentary
Israel must feel the full force of worldwide condemnation
For the goal of trying to stop the genocide, we don’t need any gatekeepers for the Palestinian cause; we are not going to say who can or cannot speak up for the lives of Gazans. Everyone can – and at this point, they must.
In the newsroom we’re talking about the prevailing winds that have shifted on Gaza – and whether they really have. About the fact that the “horror” in the Strip – “endless” indeed – now appears on the front pages of the very newspapers that had been sweeping it under the rug. In the headlines, Palestinians have stopped dying from mysterious causes and are now being killed, bombed and starved by Israel. And now it turns out that condemning October 7 need not lead one to advocate for Netanyahu’s good reasons – which do not exist.
In Italy, the opposition parties are finding their voices again, even those that could only manage to talk about Gaza by burying blame underneath endless qualifications. Outside Italy, Trump’s Gaza Riviera videos, the plans to deport every Palestinian from the Strip – to Libya, of all places! – the realization that Netanyahu will not stop, and the satisfaction of his ministers who boast about carrying out ethnic cleansing under the world’s collective noses, have moved more than one government. At least in their statements.
That doesn’t include the government of Giorgia Meloni, which remains in Trump’s shadow, never moving an inch from lockstep.
It is good that these signals are finally arriving now, even if it took 20 months and 50,000 dead. For the goal of trying to stop the genocide, we don’t need any gatekeepers for the Palestinian cause; we are not going to say who can or cannot speak up for the lives of Gazans. Everyone can – and at this point, they must.
Since they’re here, let us also remind them about the West Bank and the violence of the armed settlers. And then, those who at long last feel compelled to mobilize for Gaza should finally stop compiling lists of alleged anti-Semites, including everyone who has already been mobilizing for a year and a half in schools, universities and even in the streets. The witch-hunt waged by television, newspapers and political forces against the “pro-Pal” movement explains why our country is practically the only one that has not held a large national demonstration for Gaza.
We must, of course, acknowledge a limit in the movement’s ability to broaden and unite – as well as a limit in the activities of the unions, now focused on another topic (the referendum), but who might have asked themselves whether Gaza didn’t warrant a strike.
il manifesto is reporting the horror of Gaza without holding back, and is denouncing Israel’s crimes with all its strength. It has done so from day one, seconds after condemning Hamas’s brutal violence and calling for the hostages’ release. Yet those seconds have stretched into 20 months.
If from now on we find ourselves in larger company, so much the better. We harbor few illusions, but it is clear that politics and the media cannot long survive if they remain so distant from public feeling, which, in the face of such a gigantic tragedy, has been taking shape despite disinformation and unfurling the Palestinian flag everywhere – even at the Giro d’Italia. Our task is to tell the story and provide tools for understanding. We will continue: next week we will devote an entire issue to Gaza, from the first page to the last.
Because now, more than ever, is the time for clarity. It is not enough to make gracious yet generic calls for peace in the face of an unrelenting slaughter of human lives. The “two peoples, two states” formula can come later, assuming it still makes sense to revive it. Right now Israel must be stopped. We have to stop arming it, start isolating it, hit it where its interests lie and make it feel the full force of worldwide condemnation. A national demonstration must say this loud and clear. We must act to move national governments to action. And pressure the Meloni government so that even Italy, of all countries, will at least say “enough.” We need to take this groundswell of popular feeling, which is a political demand, into the streets.
And for these very reasons, it has to be in Rome.
Originally published at https://ilmanifesto.it/gaza-il-momento-delle-parole-chiare on 2025-05-27