ITALY'S LEFT RETHINKS POSITION ON ISRAEL

Media Spurs Italian Soul-Search Over Israel
The Italian political left - long accused by its critics of at best, lacking objectivity by espousing the Palestinian cause against Israel, or, at worst, being blatantly anti-Semitic - is in the throes of reevaluating its stance on the Jewish state. For many, a demonstration earlier this month at the Iranian embassy in Rome organized by the right-wing Rome daily, Il Foglio, in the wake of remarks by Iran's president who called for Israel to be wiped off the map, signaled a turning point. Piero Fassino, leader of Italy's largest political party, the Left Democrats - created from the ashes of the Italian Communist party - together with many flag-waving party militants joined other demonstrators at the gates of the Iranian embassy.

On Thursday, Fassino participated in a debate on "The Left and Israel" held in Rome. Fassino suggested that in the past the left, not just in Italy but also elsewhere in Europe, may have been guilty of "cultural relativism" when approaching the conflict in the Middle East - an attitude that led to the condemnation of Israel, but tolerance of some of the autocratic practices of its Arab neighbors. "The lack of democracy in an Islamic nation was 'justified' on the basis that that nation was Islamic," Fassino said, adding that "It is time that certain universal rights are accepted as being absolute."

Federico Steinhaus, an historian and president of the Jewish community in the northern city of Merano, argued that the left, and much of its media and newspapers, continued to display typical historical anti-Jewish "prejudices" akin to those adopted by Israel's Islamist enemies. (AKI-Italy)