Italian officials from across the political spectrum condemned antisemitic and threatening graffiti found Sunday on walls in central Florence, after vandals targeted Jews and Marco Carrai, Israel’s honorary consul in Tuscany, with slogans invoking violence and death.
The graffiti appeared on a wall in Via dei Banchi and in the underpass of the Santa Maria Novella train station, according to La Nazione. The phrases included “Zionists hanged,” “Carrai die,” “Jews burned alive,” “Jews to the stake,” “No Jews,” and “Free Palestine,” along with a swastika, according to Italian media reports. City sanitation workers removed the graffiti after it was discovered.
Florence Mayor Sara Funaro said the city would not allow such messages to stand. “The antisemitism that resurfaces on the walls of our city is something serious and unacceptable,” Funaro said. “Today we woke up to writings that incite hatred, violence, and death, bringing back to memory the darkest years of our history.” She said the slogans “have nothing to do with the values of Florence and the identity of our community” and expressed solidarity with Carrai.
“Florence responds to hatred and violence with unity,” Funaro said. “We have already ordered the immediate removal of the writings. At the same time, I hope those responsible will be identified as soon as possible. Florence does not deserve all this.”
Carrai thanked law enforcement officials who protect him and his family, saying he has been the target of repeated personal threats. He also thanked local and national political figures who, he said, have supported and defended him. He criticized those who condemn anonymous vandals while remaining silent toward public voices that, in his view, fuel hatred more subtly.
Tuscany Regional President Eugenio Giani said he stood with Carrai and condemned the intimidation. “Every form of threat or intimidation is unacceptable and must be firmly condemned, because it strikes not only the individual but the proper functioning of public and democratic debate,” Giani said. “Tuscany is and must remain a land where dissent is always expressed with respect for people and institutions, without violent or intimidating drifts.”
Dario Nardella, a member of the European Parliament for the center-left Democratic Party and former mayor of Florence, said the threats against Carrai must be condemned “without hesitation.” He called on institutions and civil society to respond through education, respect, and schools, saying, “There is a climate of hatred in the world that produces even more hatred.” Nardella linked that climate partly to the war in the Middle East and tensions in the Mediterranean.
Cristina Manetti, Tuscany’s regional culture councilor, called the graffiti “another serious and unacceptable act of intimidation” and said such episodes attack civil coexistence and mutual respect.
The incident follows other antisemitic episodes in Italy, including the recent vandalism of Holocaust memorial stumbling stones in Turin, and comes during a broader rise in tensions over the Israel-Hamas war that began with Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
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