There is controversy in Bologna over the Palestinian flag in the Municipality, Lepore: “I’m not with terrorists”
Controversy after controversy in Bologna over mayor Matteo Lepore's decision to display the Palestinian flag on the façade of the town hall two days ago
BOLOGNA – There is controversy in Bologna over the Palestinian flag that two days agothe mayor of Bologna Matteo Lepore decided to hang outside the façade of Palazzo D’Accursio, the seat of the Municipality. Lepore did so with this motivation: “As Mayor of a Municipality historically aligned for Peace, non-violence and the protection of human rights it is my duty to take a position as well as act to guarantee greater cohesion social possible in our city. Let us take part in favor of the victims and human rights, once again therefore we cannot and do not want to remain silent – continues the mayor – because remaining silent in the face of this violence means accepting it. “. And he added: “The current Israeli government must stop and reopen the dialogue front.”
THE CONTROVERSY
The mayor’s action, however, has attracted all kinds of controversy. First of all, that of siding with Hamas and being on the side of the terrorists. There are those who have spoken of a “political error”. Who accused him of disrespecting the Jewish community. But there are also those who, like the Young Palestinians of Bologna, have attacked the mayor, branding the display of the flag as “election propaganda”. According to them it was “a late action, which smacks of an electoral move, and decidedly insufficient compared to what is happening”. Today Lepore responded to the accusations.
LEPORE: “IO WITH TERRORISTS AND ANTI-SEMITE? ACCUSATION FALSE AND VIOLENT”
“I want to reject and deny the interpretation according to which displaying the flag of the Palestinian people today represents support for terrorists and an anti-Semitic gesture. It is a false thing that must be rejected and rejected. I must say that with many messages of solidarity and support on the part of Bolognese and Italian citizens and of many realities, I don’t feel in the slightest affected by this instrumental interpretation and also very violent towards us”. This was declared by the mayor of Bologna, Matteo Lepore, answering in the chamber the questions of Nicola Stanzani (Fi), Matteo Di Benedetto, Giulio Venturi (Lega), Stefano Cavedagna (Fdi) and Detjon Begaj (Civic Coalition).
“As an administration and as a Council we strongly condemned the terrorist attack by Hamas on 7 October, we asked for the release of the Israeli hostages. We did so by presenting ourselves immediately afterwards, together with the Jewish Community, to the Shoah memorial that we helped create”, says Lepore. “We did it on all official and unofficial occasions”, adds the mayor, recalling in particular the peace marches organized with the Islamic community, the Jewish community and the Catholic Church. “From the first moment we declared our closeness to the Jewish community and to the abductees – continues the mayor – because we believe the kidnapping and killing of civilians is a violation of human rights”. But today “it is essential, in addition to expressing solidarity, to do something – underlines Lepore – because if we really want to support the existence of two peoples and we want there to be the recognition of two States, what is happening has made us take enormous steps backwards: what happened in recent months, on October 7th and in previous years”.
It is important that “the Israeli Government stops and reopens the dialogue front. I have already said it and I repeat it: I dream – declares Lepore – of being able to display the Israeli flag next to the Palestinian, I dream of doing it soon, when international law will be fully restored and when the bombs on refugee camps and defenseless civilians will stop”.
Lepore, moreover, began his speech by underlining that “justice, legality international law, human rights and international law are the issues, values and principles that drove me to display the flag of Palestine.” The same reasons, continues Lepore, why the façade of the Municipality hosted the banner for the ‘ceasefire’, the flag of peace or that of Ukraine and why the administration demonstrated with Iranian students. But it is in particular on Ukraine that the mayor insists: “Even in that case we took part and no one was indignant from the opposition benches or even the representatives of the current Government. Indeed, when I asked that in a neighborhood house a Russian propaganda film wasn’t shown, I received applause and praise from ambassadors, government representatives and many parties. In that case I took part, I didn’t display two flags.” And now, returning to the Middle East, “I think that the equidistance that has been requested of us by many parties, for months and now years, would only be synonymous with acceptance of the state of factand that is < strong>destruction, war, bombs, killing of defenseless civilians in the Gaza Strip, in Rafah and in general in the territory where the Palestinians live”. In a certain historical phase “two peoples, two states and two flags had a meaning”, adds Lepore, but today “it would mean turning the other way”.