Jewish man in Rome arrested for allegedly shooting left-wing protesters with airgun

Suspect has reportedly confessed to attack, condemned by Jewish leaders, during Liberation Day celebration that has seen rising tensions around Israel, Jewish attendees

A young Jewish man was arrested in Rome on Wednesday for allegedly shooting and lightly wounding two left-wing demonstrators with an airgun on Saturday at a rally celebrating Liberation Day, which marks the anniversary of the end of World War II in Italy.

According to the Italian daily La Repubblica, the suspect was brought to the Regina Coeli jail in Rome, and the authorities were considering charging him with attempted murder. The police are also investigating possible ties between the incident and other attacks and acts of vandalism against pro-Palestinian targets over the past two years.

On Saturday, according to Italian media, an individual wearing a helmet arrived on a motorcycle at a park where many of the demonstrators were hanging out and targeted a couple in their sixties who were wearing a red neckerchief, a symbol of the left-wing Association of Italian Partisans. The man was lightly injured in his neck, and the woman in her shoulder. Both were treated at the site.

According to the Corriere della Sera newspaper, police identified the shooter, who used his own motorcycle, and he confessed, adding that he was “a member of the Jewish Brigade.”

The Jewish Brigade was made up of about 5,000 Jewish soldiers, mostly from Mandatory Palestine, who volunteered to join the British Army to fight against the Nazis in World War II. For the past several years, some Italian Jews have worked to revive the Brigade’s legacy, including by joining the Liberation Day rallies under its banner, with many also choosing to bring Israeli flags.

After the arrest of the Jewish man in Rome, Jewish organizations and leaders condemned the incident and distanced themselves from it.

“The arrest of a young man who is a member of the Jewish Community of Rome over the events of April 25 fills us with shock and indignation,” the community’s President Victor Fadlun said in a statement. “The Jewish Community of Rome condemns and unequivocally dissociates itself from any form of anti-democratic violence.”

“We express our full solidarity and closeness to the injured,” he added. “At such a tense moment, we call on political forces and civil society to avoid any exploitation that could fuel hatred and generate further violence.”

The umbrella group representing Jewish communities across the country echoed Fadlun’s sentiment.

“The Union of Italian Jewish Communities expresses its strongest condemnation of all forms of violence, from whatever side they may come,” the organization said in a statement. “The detention of a young member of the Jewish Community of Rome in connection with the incident that took place in the capital on April 25 leaves us stunned and dismayed.”

“We reiterate our closeness to the victims of the assault that occurred in Rome and to all those who, on April 25 in various cities across Italy, were subjected to violence, insults, and threats,” the statement added.

Italian Jews have had a regular presence at the rallies for decades, to celebrate both the end of the Holocaust and antisemitic persecution in the country, and the Italian resistance. Many Italian Jews joined the resistance, including a boy who is said to be the youngest Italian partisan to be killed fighting the Nazis and the fascists, 13-year-old Franco Cesana.

Over the past two decades, however, public debate over the legacy of the Italian resistance and the day’s festivities has grown more polarized. That debate has come alongside rising antagonism toward the Jewish Brigade from other groups of demonstrators, which sometimes emphasize its connection to Israel and sometimes use age-old antisemitic rhetoric.

That tension increased after the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led onslaught in Israel, as support for Israel in Italy declined during the war in Gaza.

As a result, for several years, the Jewish community in Rome has officially decided not to attend the city’s rally.

At the demonstration in Milan on Saturday, several groups with a clear Jewish affiliation were instructed by the authorities to join the march together. The groups included the Jewish Brigade, the labor Zionist Hashomer Hatzair group and a left-wing pro-Israel group that favors a two-state solution.

The different Jewish organizations were blocked from marching by other participants for about an hour before the authorities asked them to leave and escorted them away, citing security concerns.

Other demonstrators hurled insults at them, including “All Zionists out of the rally,” “Long live Hitler,” and “You are lucky you are not a soap bar,” a reference to rumors that the remains of Jews who died in concentration camps were used to produce soap.