David Harris, presidente dell'American Jewish Comitee, ha rilasciato, sulle dichiarazioni di Massimo D'Alema, un intervista all'UNITA' da noi commentata a questo link.

Una nostra lettrice, italiana residente in Texas, ha inviato ad Harris una lettera.
La pubblichiamo di seguito, insieme alla replica di Harris e alla controreplica della lettrice.

Ci sembra interessanti per far capire come spesso osservatori americani anche molto qualificati, ebrei e non ebrei, non abbiano una chiara percezione della vicende italiane. A differenza di chi, come la nostra lettrice, pur vivendo in America le segue quotidianamente.

Questo aumenta i rischi di strumentalizzazioni e distorsioni, dei quali si deve tenere conto quando si leggono sui nostri quotidiani certi titoli e certe distorte interpretazioni.

Ecco i testi ,in inglese:

Dear Mr. Harris, I am afraid that you just played in the hands of the Italian extreme left and you don't even know it.
Beware of L' Unita', because the Unita' will use your good name and the AJC to show that it is not biased against Israel (all the while burying your interview on page 12) and they have done it before (yesterday an article by Furio Colombo critical of Foreign Affairs Minister D'Alema was put side by side with an article by Shulamit Aloni who because of her political agenda internal to Israel, instead praised D'Alema as if to say that Furio Colombo's just criticism is neutralized by Shulamit Aloni's praises and therefore it does not deserve attention). L' Unita' is not just "left of Center" l' Unita' is read by those who go demonstrate in Italian streets dressed in mock suicide bomber outfits and burn Israeli and American flags, and then claim that they are "equidistanti", or "equally distant from the Israeli or Palestinian positions". L' Unita' will say they are not responsible for their readership, but when you spend 20 plus years feeding anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic propaganda to the masses, can you really be surprised if they start burning Israeli flags? They are obviously responsible for the hate they spew on a daily basis As I said, the article was hidden on page 12 and there was no mention of it on the first page. The title is dangerous to say the least: "Not true that Jews don't support those who seek peace", read by L' Unita' readers will only confirm their biases against Jews who support Israel, i.e. the bad Jews. In the Unita' today an article by Gabriel Bertinetto stated "troppi ebrei italiani in questa fase non manifestano un atteggiamento critico verso il governo Olmert" or "Too many Italian Jews in this period do not express criticism of the Olmert Government", as if it was a duty of Italian Jews to condemn Israel no matter what! On the Repubblica the former "civil" head of the Italian Jewish Communities Tullia Zevi was asked in an interview by Carmelo Lopapa: "Il richiamo del ministro degli Esteri agli ebrei democratici è risultato particolarmente sgradito alle Comunità. Una distinzione tra ebrei buoni e cattivi, è stata la contestazione." or "the admonition by the Foreign Affairs Ministry to Jews with democratic values did not go well with the [Jewish] Community". They contested that he was making a distinction between good and bad Jews" to which she preferred not to answer and changed subject. Don't just take my word for it: I know you understand some Italian from the time you worked in Rome on behalf of Russian Jews. Please visit and sign up for the newsletter of www.informazionecorretta.com the Italian counterpart of HonestReporting.com. They too read your article on the Unita' and they analyzed it here in its Italian contest http://www.informazionecorretta.it/main.php?mediaId=999920&sez=110&id=18320 and in fact, I just pretty much limited myself to borrowing from it. By the way, those of InformazioneCorretta.com could use some support from a fellow Jewish organization of international importance. The sad truth is that in Italy there is a dangerous and malicious debate by the leftists on who is a good Jew and who is not: the solution the left is endorsing is that good Jews are those who condemn Israel and dissociate themselves from Israel and the bad Jews those who support Israel and see its reasons in wanting to stay alive and protect its citizens in an all out war for Israel's destruction. The Italian Foreign Minister is fueling the fire. I am an Italian Jew and the phrase "the only good Jew is a dead Jew" is ringing in my ears even if I am so many miles removed. I am copying our friends of Informazionecorretta.com with this e-mail. Your friend Emanuela Prister Toth
Dallas Texas

Dear Ms. Prister,

Thank you very much for writing. I appreciate your candor and constructive critique.

Having dealt with Europe and its media, including the Italian press, for a number of years, I am aware of at least some of the minefields and pitfalls. In the end, as you know, these can be tough judgment calls--and I understand that there can be more than one way of looking at them.

Either we avoid media outlets like l'Unita for the reasons you articulate, or we engage their readership with the risks such an approach entails. We obviously chose the latter course. We couldn't ensure the headline or placement--that's clear--but the printed text of my comments was exactly what I said, nothing more, nothing less. Needless to say, our hope, which some might consider naive, was that it might offer an alternative voice to those too often heard in the paper and its surrounding intellectual/political circles. We'll see.

In any case, again, I appreciate your writing to me and your commitment. As an aside, I wonder if we have met at some point. Something tells me that we have.

With best wishes,

David Harris
American Jewish Committee (AJC)

Dear Mr. Harris: I trust that you are doing well and I appreciate your reply more than words can express. I am thrilled to have your attention! I hope I am not abusing it. We have not met, although I am looking forward to it at some point. I had signed up for a breakfast in May in Dallas which you unfortunately had to cancel. By the way, please give us another try so we can show you some true Texas hospitality. You shared your Italian experience with me through an e-mail exchange regarding Turkey's prospects of joining the EU. I was not so thrilled about it, and felt compelled to write. I know what you mean about engaging the media to reach their readership, even the Italian leftist media, and perhaps you are right, and I am wrong, but having seen the failure of a policy of "winning the hearts and the minds" I cannot help but remain skeptical and wary of their tactics, because I no longer believe that people act in good faith. I think they (the journalists, the Media, their readership) are moved by blind hate for Israel and hate for the Jews, fueled by Petrol Dollars (someone has to account for the fact that the Soviet Union after its collapse no longer funds l' Unita', or il Manifesto) and desire for destruction, civil unrest and carnage and they won't stop at anything, so that our good faith, our tending the hand, gets us nowhere, other than the hospital or the morgue, only to have the culprits hide their hand and say it wasn't them. The Italian problem is that we have a Foreign Affairs Minister who asks of Jews to come forward and criticize Israel. Many Italian Jewish writers and commentators have justly lamented that the last time anyone asked them to do so, was under Mussolini and we all know what happened afterwards. Also the last time a newspaper of national distribution in Italy printed an article making a distinguo between good Jews and bad Jews, there was an anti-Israel demonstration in Rome where people brought a coffin in front of the Synagogue on the LungoTevere and soon thereafter a terrorist attack by Palestinian Terrorists on those attending services at the same Synagogue which caused many wounded and at least the death of one child. That was 1982. http://www.informazionecorretta.it/main.php?mediaId=999920&sez=120&id=18319 This coming Saturday there will be two anti-Israel (and anti-Jewish) demonstration in Italy, one in Milan and one in Rome, borne out of the incident at Beit Hanoun which D'Alema refused to believe (and with him apparently those newspapers and Italians) was an accident. The demonstrations are organized by the government's majority. In a country where celebrations for having won the world cup causes mobs to trash the Jewish Ghetto, I fear violence against Jews and Jewish institutions everywhere in Italy. As you can see, the immediate problem is not for the left to recognize that there are peace loving Jews, or the reasons for Israel in defending its borders and its citizens, or that Israel is a democracy, or that both Democrats and Republicans support Israel in the US, but for the Government of Italy to recognize that Italian Jews are Italians and an attack by a Minister on Italians because of their religious affiliation is a very serious affair which may go down in blood and tears. The problem is having mainstream newspapers who fuel the fire of anti-Semitism. The problem is that the left (sadly even the American left) will not recognize that it has a big problem with anti-Semitism, due to its love affair with Islamist ideology of civil unrest, repression, destruction and carnage, and does nothing to isolate and denounce those in their midst who espouse such ideologies. They ascribe anti-Semitism to the right, all the while their own are donning mock suicide bombers jackets. I am very worried. We need a unified voice by the Jewish Community and Jewish Organizations (because no one else will defend us) that will ascribe anti-Semitic violence and propaganda in Italy directly to the actions by the Italian Government through its representatives and its Party newspapers and hold them directly accountable. No more hiding, no more excuses, no more "those are actions by isolated few". Thank you for your time and your kind attention to this issue. I take this occasion to wish you and your family and the AJC a wonderful Thanksgiving. I have received the booklet by the AJC and we will be sure to make good use of it at our Thanksgiving table. your friend
Emanuela Prister Toth Dallas Texas info@informazionecorretta.it