by InTrieste
Italy’s minister of universities on Tuesday denounced as “unacceptable” a call by a law professor at the University of Palermo for people to sever online ties with Jewish acquaintances, a proposal that has drawn swift condemnation from political leaders and the academic community.
The professor, Luca Nivarra, who teaches at the university’s law faculty, wrote on Facebook that unfriending Jewish contacts — including, he said, those who expressed opposition to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza — could serve as a symbolic act of protest.
“I don’t want to meddle in matters that don’t concern me directly, but, having very few tools at our disposal to oppose the Palestinian Holocaust, a signal, however modest, could be to unfriend your Jewish ‘friends’ on Facebook,” he wrote. “They lie, and with their lies they help cover up the horror.”
The remarks prompted an immediate rebuke from Massimo Midiri, the rector of the University of Palermo, who called the professor’s comments a “culturally dangerous personal initiative, far from the principles of our university.”
Mr. Midiri said the professor’s proposal risked “fueling the very dynamics he claims to oppose” and stressed that the university had already taken official positions on the Middle East conflict. He noted that the institution had condemned both the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on Oct. 7 and Israel’s subsequent military campaign in Gaza, which he said had resulted in systematic violations of human rights.
“On complex issues such as the conflict in the Middle East, the path forward must be one of dialogue and critical debate, not isolation and what approaches ideological censorship,” Mr. Midiri said in a statement.
The country’s university minister, Anna Maria Bernini, praised the rector for issuing what she called a “clear and necessary distancing” from the professor’s remarks. Writing on the social media platform X, Ms. Bernini said the statements “offend not only Jewish people but all those who identify with the values of respect and civil coexistence.”
“Conflicts are overcome through dialogue, not isolation,” she added. “It is only through this path that an authentic journey toward peace can be built, an objective to which Italy and the international community continue to dedicate their efforts.”
Mr. Nivarra, for his part, rejected accusations of antisemitism and dismissed criticism as politically motivated. In a follow-up message, he accused his detractors of resorting to “insults and threats” and insisted that there was “an insurmountable distance between me and the perpetrators of these horrors.”
