Dal Jerusalem Post del 14 settembre 2004 riportiamo l'intervista a Fiamma Nirenstein di Ruthie Blum:
'One on One: Truth and consequences

The same struggle against democracy and freedom," says author Fiamma Nirenstein, as we chat in the Tuscan village where she spends her summers writing and going to the beach, "has moved its home from fascism and communism to Islamism."

Nirenstein, the Israel correspondent and columnist for the Italian newspapers La Stampa and Panorama, is making waves with the publication of her seventh book, The Liberal Anti-Semite. Indeed, it's hard to accompany her anywhere in Italy without having to stop while she is approached by strangers asking her to sign their books, or simply thanking her for articulating what they feel to be true about the war on terror in general, and about the Arab-Israeli conflict in particular.

Nirenstein divides her time between her home in Jerusalem - where she lives with her Israeli husband - and her flat in Rome. The daughter of two eminent journalists (her mother is a cultural columnist for Corriera della Sera; her father spent 30 years as a correspondent for the Israeli newspaper Al Hamishmar), Nirenstein is what some might call an Italian neo-con. An ardent Communist for much of her youth, she became disillusioned with Marxism when she realized that, contrary to its rhetoric, it is actually "antithetical to freedom."

Why are you such a controversial author in Italy?
Because I try to tell the truth about the Middle East conflict and the war on terrorism. And the truth destroys one of the weapons of the anti-Semitic position, according to which Israel is a rogue state, interested only in killing and occupying another people.

Does your being a Jew influence the way you are perceived?
Absolutely. It is said of my book that it is "passionate" - which is really a euphemism for being partisan. And for being Jewish. Because you see, of course I'm passionate about the subjects I write about. I'm also a Florentine, so my writing is in very floral Italian. But my literary style wasn't what the left-wing ex-prime minister, Giuliano Amato, was referring to recently when he presented my book in the senate, put his hand on my shoulder and said: "Oh, Fiamma, what did you do to us? You understand that the Left is not all the same. How dare you think that the liberal progressive is an anti-Semite? Maybe it is your passion."
What he meant was "Maybe it's because you're Jewish."

You spent your youth affiliated with the Communist Party. What changed?
My involvement with the Communist Party was juvenile. It took a while for me to understand that to be a true liberal - one who cares about real human rights and women's rights and economic freedom - you cannot be a Communist, which is antithetical to freedom.
Furthermore, in Italy, there has always been a special kind of compromise between communism and the Catholic Church, both of which are non-liberal and don't give a damn about democracy.
By the way, I first took an interest in terrorism when the Red Brigades began to employ it. It really disgusted me, and so I started trying to understand the ultimate relationship between contempt for democracy and terrorism. Even then, I saw that all my liberal friends were somehow sympathetic to the Red Brigades. Just the way they responded to 9/11. The moment it happened, they sympathized with America. The very next day, however, they started blaming the United States.
So there is a tradition in Europe of thinking this way, and the presence of Muslim immigrants compounds it.

Why are European-born Christians persuaded by Islamic rhetoric?
First of all, Europeans are afraid of the Islamists. Look at what happened in Spain. Spain ran away from Iraq the moment it suffered a terrorist attack, hoping this would protect it from future harm. Seventy-two percent of the Spanish people said the only solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict is to deport the Jews from Israel, and leave the land to the Palestinians. So you see, first they abscond in fear and then they have to justify it.
Secondly, Europeans are afraid of having to pay any price for democracy, let alone the extremely high and painful price Israel has to pay in the face of the Arab world.
In the third place, Europeans will never forgive the Jews for having been slaughtered by them.
Finally, European liberals consider the Arab world in general and the Palestinians specifically to be the poor victims that Europe colonized, exploited and killed - victims who deserve compensation.

After 9/11, President Bush got up and said this is a war between the forces of good and evil. Did this have no salutary effect on Europe?
Just the opposite. The penchant for denial in Europe is so strong that calling this a "clash of civilizations" between democracy and fundamentalist Islam couldn't be accepted. It's a kind of pacifism that is firmly rooted in European tradition.
Look at the Cold War, for instance. Liberals accepted unconditionally the propaganda that communism was "struggling for peace." Ironically, it was the struggle against democracy and freedom that was calling itself anti-violent and pro-human rights.
What has happened is that this same struggle against democracy and freedom has moved its home from fascism and communism to Islamism. So Europe couldn't identify with President Bush's "battle cry."
Isn't it surprising, then, that you received as much positive response to your book as negative?
Not really. First of all, let's not forget that Italy has been on the side of America in the war in Iraq. Secondly, regular people have much more common sense than politicians and journalists where good and evil are concerned.

Doesn't the phenomenon of the liberal anti-Semite exist in Israel itself?
Yes, just as it does in the rest of the world. It's a matter of left-wing hegemony in the cultural and social arenas.
This is both good and bad. I mean, look at the United States during the Vietnam War. Though so much political and cultural vilification of the government was going on, think how much beautiful music, cinema and literature was
roduced as a result.
On the negative side: The only Israeli articles and books that get attention in Europe are those that deal with the suffering of the Palestinians at the hands of Israelis. The fact that it is Israelis writing about this gives legitimacy to the European position that Israel is a rogue sate. It's a clever device used to delegitimize Israel. So don't tell me that this has to do only with morality and freedom of expression.
My advice to "truth-seeking" authors such as David Grossman, A.B. Yehoshua, Amos Oz and the like, when they write political commentary, is to start telling the whole truth, which includes the integrity and courage of the Israelis