World Jewish News

Italian Jewish leaders denounce ' a true celebration of Nazism ’by fans of the Hellas Verona football club

Jewish leaders in Italy denounced as ‘’ a true celebration of Nazism’’ a chorus of Nazi chants by fans of the Hellas Verona football club earlier this month.

During a match, at the Bentegodi stadium of Verona, a member of the far-right Forza Nuova party hailed Adolf Hitler as "sponsor" of the team.

The Nazi chorus at the match appeared in an online video that has been on the web of many national newspapers.

Following the incidents, the President of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, Noemi Di Segni, and the President of the Jewish Community of Verona, Bruno Carmi, wrote a letter of protest to the president of the Italian football federation Carlo Tavecchio, to the president of the soccer team Hellas Verona Maurizio Setti, to the mayor of Verona Federico Sboarina and to the prefect Salvatore Mulas .

In the letter the two Jewish leaders wrote: "It is not the first disturbing episode of this kind that involves groups of the fans of Verona. We are faced with repeated acts of extreme gravity, which incite to ideologies of hatred and violence contrary to the principles of our constitution and threatening the democratic foundations of our country.’’

‘’This kind of behaviors cannot leave us indifferent and cannot remain unpunished. For this reason we ask all competent authorities and bodies to act with the utmost rigor and sanction the perpetrators, applying the laws of criminal law and sport justice,’’ they added.

‘’The society has to make its voice public, condemning the affair, ensuring that nothing like this will happen again in the championship that will start in mid-August.

"Neo-fascist and neo-Nazi movements are trying to gain consensus and visibility. Everyone's task is to emphasize that such attitudes will never be legitimized, ‘’concluded Si Segni and Carmi.

Verona Mayor Federico Sboarina, whose passion for the team is well known, said: “ I condemn any action that drives Hitler, like hny totalitarianism that has caused millions of innocent deaths. For this reason, today we have to focus attention on the news, which brings us back to a single case launched late in the night probably by some drunks. However, there are attitudes that do not have to happen because they only have negative effects. The immediate relapse is to give the city and the fan of the Hellas Verona an image that does not represent them. Verona and the fans of Hellas have a high concept of values, know the facts that belong to History and do not deserve superficial negative judgments. “

The Hellas Verona team also intervened directly:” We disagree with what happened during the match. We want to point out that this was a self-managed event and not of direct control and competence of the club. We are also convinced that this is an isolated behavior, which does not represent our fans. To protect and support our club, we would like to point out how our society has carried out many actions and awareness campaigns in recent years to condemn any form of discrimination and potentially harm any constitutionally guaranteed right and as in that perspective we will always act. "

EJP