A national demonstration for Gaza. On Tuesday, leaders Elly Schlein of the Democratic Party (PD), Giuseppe Conte of the Five Star Movement (M5S) and Nicola Fratoianni with Angelo Bonelli of Green-Left Alliance (AVS) jointly announced a mass rally in Rome on Saturday, 7 June “to stop the massacre of the Palestinian people.”
- Più Europa has thrown its weight behind the mobilisation, though Matteo Renzi’s Italia Viva and Carlo Calenda’s Azione remain sceptical.
From the Parliament to the piazza. The three opposition groups have tabled a parliamentary motion urging the Meloni government to:
- Formally recognise the State of Palestine and demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
- Secure the release of hostages held by Hamas and send urgent humanitarian aid.
- Suspend military and arms exports to Israel and impose EU sanctions over alleged international law violations.
- Support the International Criminal Court, which has issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on war crimes charges.
Government response. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani delivered an urgent statement to the Chamber on Wednesday, calling for silent tribute to Palestinian and Israeli victims before asserting, “As a friend of Israel, we must end the escalation.”
- He reiterated Italy’s backing for a two-state solution: “Israel’s response has become unacceptable—we demand the bombings stop immediately.”
- Tajani also condemned recent antisemitic attacks, expressing solidarity with senator for life Liliana Segre, a Holocaust survivor, and stressed that Netanyahu’s actions “must not be laid at the door of the Jewish people.”
- Simultaneously, he defended keeping diplomatic channels with Israel open.
- Two weeks earlier, Prime Minister Meloni, during a Chamber question time, highlighted Italy’s “front-line” diplomatic role in the Middle East, lamenting Gaza’s “increasingly dramatic and unjustifiable humanitarian situation.”
A call for transpartisan unity. Nicola Latorre, former PD senator writing for the right-wing newspaper Il Giornale, urged a broader mobilisation transcending political divides.
- “Only a grand unity of politics and institutions—beyond government and opposition—engaging wide swathes of civil society can restore credibility to a peace demonstration,” he argued.
- He added that such unity would “truly support an initiative capable of halting these massacres and reinforcing our country’s commitment.”
