In Milan, on April 25, 2026, during the celebrations for Liberation Day, a crowd screamed “siete saponette mancate” at Jews marching in the parade. The phrase means, roughly, that the Jews should have been rendered into soap by the Nazis. It was directed at members of the Brigata Ebraica (Jewish Brigade), the descendants of the same soldiers who fought to liberate this country in 1945. 

I am Italian. I write from Italy, where the 25th of April is meant to be the most sacred date on our civil calendar, the day Mussolini’s regime collapsed. For decades, that day belonged to everyone who had fought the Nazi occupation: communists, Catholics, monarchists, liberals, and yes, Jews. This year, the Jewish Brigade was forced out of the parade by people who call themselves antifascists. The Jewish delegation, which included Luciano Belli Paci, son of Liliana Segre (Auschwitz survivor and senator for life), was blocked by hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters. The police eventually escorted them out of the procession. The same day in Rome, Matteo Hallissey, president of the Italian Radicals, was sprayed in the face with pepper spray by activists of Cambiare Rotta, a far-left student group. His offense: he was carrying a........

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