This article was originally published in English
The left-wing media outlet Fanpage claimed it had video showing some members of the “National Youth” uttering racist insults and giving a Nazi salute.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has condemned racist and anti-Semitic remarks made by some members of her party’s youth league, Brothers of Italy.
Speaking to reporters in Brussels, Italy’s head of government said anti-Semitism and racism were incompatible with her party, after two senior members of the National Youth League resigned following alleged anti-Semitic remarks made against a Jewish senator.
“I have said it many times and I repeat it, I think that those who have racist, anti-Semitic or nostalgic feelings have simply come to the wrong house, because these feelings are incompatible with the Brothers of Italy, they are incompatible with the Italian right, they are incompatible with the political line that we have clearly defined in recent years, and therefore I do not accept that there are ambiguities on this subject”she said.
Ms Meloni’s comments come after the publication of an article in the left-wing online newspaper Fanpagewhich claims to have video and audio recordings showing some members of the National Youth uttering racist insults and making Nazi salutes.
But Giorgia also criticized the methods of this reporting via an undercover operation.
The investigation of the Fanpage, entitled “Melonian Youth”, caused a shock wave among the Brothers of Italy, at the very moment when Giorgia Meloni seeks to consolidate her reputation as a moderate voice on the scene of the European Union.
Members of Rome’s Jewish community were also outraged, with some calling on the Prime Minister to punish the members of the organization denounced in the investigation.
“The Jewish community of Rome condemns the shameful images of racism and anti-Semitism that emerged from the investigation,” posted President Victor Fadlun on X. He asked the party to punish the members targeted by this investigative investigation.
He also urged Giorgia Meloni’s party to take steps “appropriate measures”claiming that he was “imperative that society” reacts against discrimination.
The Brothers of Italy emerged from the Italian Social Movement (MSI), created in 1946 to succeed the fascist movement of Benito Mussolini which governed Italy for more than 20 years.
Giorgia Meloni repeatedly condemned the racist and anti-Jewish laws promulgated by Mussolini in 1938, with the aim of making his party a dominant conservative force.
But she has also ignored calls to declare herself “anti-fascist,” prompting some of her critics to say she has failed to fully distance herself from neo-fascism.
