Hamas supporters violently hinder an anti-Semitism event in Turin’s University

On Thursday, May 15th, 2025, a conference on anti-Semitism that was supposed to take place at the University of Turin-Campus Einaudi was violently hampered by hundreds of pro-Palestinian and Hamas supporters. The meeting, entitled “For universities as places of democracy and the fight against anti-Semitism”, and promoted by several groups adhering to the National Manifesto for the Right to Study, including the Union of Young Jews of Italy, Students for Freedom, Liberal Students and Students for Israel, did not even had the chance to start. A crowd of over 150 screaming individuals with Palestinian flags moved against just twenty people as soon as the latter entered the building.

As reported by Stefano Piazza for Panorama magazine, the attackers stormed the classroom where the initiative was planned, shouting slogans such as “Intifada”, and aiming to prevent Jewish students and their supporters from speaking, insulting them, threatening them, spitting on them and physically attacking them. Moreover, a cell phone was stolen, possibly to delete evidence of the violence.

The attackers also tore up a sign reading “Free the hostages” and tore a yellow hostage pin from the jacket of UGEI president, Luca Spizzichino. (UGEI is the Union of Young Jews of Italy). One of the organizers, Cristina Franco, lawyer and president of the Italy-Israel Association in the city of Savona, explained to us what happened:

“The night before they changed our classroom for unexpected maintenance reasons, and they assigned us a classroom completely exposed to the public street, so anyone could enter without any control. We arrived about half an hour before the event but over 100 pro-Pal demonstrators with flags, drums, megaphones were already there waiting. At that point, the insults and spitting began, they tore down the “free the hostages” sign and started an event that, unlike ours, was not authorized. Among other things, the director of the faculty, Anna Mastromarino, who was present today, months ago (during a previous event) had warned us not to enter the classroom because, since the bureaucratic authorization procedure was not yet complete, she would have considered us as squatters and would have asked for our evacuation (by the police). However, the same thing was not done towards the pro-Pal. The insults and attacks later resumed; they hit me with the Palestinian flagpole on my head several times, they threw anything at us, kicked, spat, pushed and it was impossible to continue, also because there were 20 of us and 150 of them. At that point, Mastromarino moved us to the great hall where about 300 demonstrators entered and the insults and physical aggressions began again with kicks, slaps, pushes and in the end we were thrown out of the hall. Outside the university the pro-Pal followed us and I had to ask the police to escort me to the car to avoid further aggression. These people also chased a teacher, trying to prevent her from re-entering the university. In our opinion, the university is responsible for not adopting any minimum measures to ensure that the event could take place safely.

I contacted the DIGOS (police) at the beginning of the event, which was very far from the entrance to the hall, I repeat, open to the public road; they told me that the department director (Mastromarino) had asked them to stay away so as not to provoke the pro-Pals and they remained there. Mastromarino said she took responsibility for what would happen inside, stating that the pro-Pal demonstration was “peaceful” and the situation got out of hand. The police were kept away from the university.”

Lawyer Franco makes a point: why did the university management fail to take the necessary measures to ensure the safe conduct of an authorized event, allowing hundreds of thugs to attack the participants and prevent the event?

It is interesting to notice how, on May 6^th, Mastromarino posted on her Facebook account a post against the potential Gaza offensive and the Israeli government, calling it “genocidal” and stating among other things “Hate calls for more hate, always”.

In 2024, Mastromarino also co-signed a document to the Italian Foreign Ministry for the suspension of the Agreement on Industrial, Scientific and Technological Cooperation between Italy and Israel.

It is also worth recalling that on November 25^th, 2024, a Turin-based student collective “Progetto Palestina” (Palestine Project) held a conference at the Einaudi Campus of the University of Turin, entitled “Forgotten Feminism”, and with the participation of an exceptional guest, Miriam Abu Daqqa, a well-known member of the Popular front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), who spoke via web connection. The PFLP is classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, Great Britain, and the European Union. In November 2023, Abu Daqqa was expelled from France and put on a flight to Egypt after taking part in two conferences not authorized by French authorities. She is now banned from entering the Schengen area.

According to the reconstruction of Thursday’s incidents, as provided via phone by the Italian State Police press office, the classroom that had been initially assigned for the event was taken over by students or, in any case, people belonging to “the opposite faction”. The organizers therefore moved to another room but the same thing happened and so they gave up on holding the event. The police spoke of “moments of tension”, stating that they were not aware of the violence other than “a few pushes and nothing more” adding that otherwise the participants would have been escorted.

The police invited anyone who received threats during the incidents to report it and pointed out that no intervention was requested by the university directive, also highlighting that, in Italy, uniformed agents are not authorized to enter campus unless the request comes from the directive. When asked if the officers had proceeded with the identification or arrest of any pro-Palestinian protesters, the police answered “no”.

At this point, there are a couple of things to point out. Firstly, it was not a clash between “two factions”, but rather a fully authorized event against anti-Semitism that was violently hindered by a mob of pro-Palestinian and pro-Hamas supporters. The participants at the event were Italian Jewish and non-Jewish groups trying to do something about the rise of anti-Semitism in Italy since the October 7, 2023, massacre.

Secondly, how is it possible that universities can turn from educational centers to free zones where anti-Semitic and pro-terror activity can be freely carried out without any type of possible intervention on behalf of the authorities, unless requested from within by the faculty directive?

Thirdly, why did the faculty director, Anna Mastromarino, did not ask the police to intervene when she realized that the situation was quickly escalating?

The President of the Jewish Community of Rome, Victor Fadlun, relased a very clear and direct statement on the matter:

“The violence with which Pro Pal prevented a meeting today at the Einaudi Campus in Turin at the Union of Young Jews regarding the ‘right to study in contrast to anti-Semitism in the University’ is absolutely unacceptable.
Once again, the anti-Semitic subterfuge hidden in phrases such as those shouted at the students of the UGEI, ‘Free Palestine from the river to the sea’, which contain precise genocidal intentions, must be exposed.
The right of Italian citizens to express their opinions must always be protected. Especially in those that should be the places of free thought: universities. Maximum solidarity with Luca Spizzichino, president of UGEI, victim of a demonstration of intolerance and anti-Semitic violence”.

As reported by the Italian Anti-Semitism Observatory, the year 2024 witnessed a sharp increase in anti-Semitic acts as compared to 2023, a year that had already seen a worrying surge in events. Following 1,384 reports, there were 877 episodes of anti-Semitism, of which 600 concerned online anti-Semitism and 277 consisted of acts that materially occurred.

As explained by Stefano Gatti, a leading researcher at the Observatory: “As our studies show, contemporary anti-Semitism is largely linked to the theme of Israel and feeds on Western-style anti-Zionist narratives but, increasingly, on themes deriving from Islamic radicalism. My colleagues and I encounter this daily when we analyze the anti-Semitic web, where many myths and narratives come from the Muslim archive”.

It is clear that something regarding the contrast to anti-Semitism in Italy is not working and we await answers from the government and, in particular, from the Ministry of the Interior. Evidently the strategy of “letting it vent so as not to fuel social conflict” is a total failure, otherwise we would not be here, once again, talking about it. Where are the Italian institutions? What are they planning to do about it?