Rome’s pro-Palestinian rally draws 300,000 hoping Meloni, Netanyahu notice
One morning I awakened,
oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao! (Goodbye beautiful)
One morning I awakened
And I found the invader.
Oh partisan carry me away,
oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao
oh partisan carry me away
Because I feel death approaching.
– “Bella Ciao,” Italian folk song, 1953
The origins of perhaps Italy’s most famous song of resistance date back to the late 19th century. The women who worked the rice paddies of Northern Italy sang it in protest of harsh working conditions. In 1953, the lyrics changed to honor the partisans of the Italian resistance who fought against the Nazis in World War II.
More than 70 years later, on a hot day in Rome, I was engulfed by the lyrics. I was in the middle of an estimated 300,000 people Saturday marching through the capital in support of the Palestians in the Gaza War.
Ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao.
I will hear that lyric in my sleep until the end of the war, whenever that is. That was on most minds of the Italians, young and old, rich and poor, powerful and weak, who hoped to scream so loud they were heard in Gaza where nearly 55,000 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children.
At the least, they hoped to be heard in Chigi Palace, where Italy Prime Minister Georgia Meloni works and, until Thursday had done what pro-Palestinians say is “absolutely nothing.”
Rome plays host
Marina, two friends and I met the mass in Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II, ironically named for the first king of a newly independent italy in 1861. Surrounding us was a sea of signs. Every left or center-left political party waved their banner, from Cinque Stelle to the European Green Party to the Italian Socialist Party.
Italians from around the country waved Palestinian flags which they found by scouring their respective towns. Dozens of rainbow flags were emblazoned with “PACE (Peace)” and “BASTA (Enough).”
Then there were the signs of support.
“RESTIAMO UMANI (LET’S STAY HUMAN!)”
“BASTA COMPLICITA CON IL GENOCIDIO! ITALIA FUORI DELLE GUERRE IMPERIALISTE. (NO MORE COMPLICITY WITH GENOCIDE! ITALY OUT OF IMPERIALIST WARS!)”
And many were in English.
“STOP GENOCIDE.”
“LIFE FOR GAZA.”
“STOP ITALIAN ARMS TO ISRAEL.”
One sign didn’t need any words. On a big white sheet lay a long stuffed white bundle shaped like a human body and speckled with red, like bloodstains. Next to it were nine similar ones, only smaller – like children.
Meloni slammed
I saw a middle aged man carrying a huge Palestinian flag he got from a friend in his town of Bologna. Maurizio Avanzolini was once a student of history and focused on the history of Israel and the Jews. He spoke with controlled fury.
“In this moment the Italian government is not supporting Palestine,” he said. “Now the Italian government is bowing down to (Donald) Trump and has done absolutely nothing, nothing, nothing to end the war. The Israeli ambassador expressed some concessions to get food to the people but it was never completed.”
In the middle of this human storm is Meloni. Italians complain that she hasn’t even given lip service to the war. Meloni did say she blocked arms sales shortly after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 invasion although Italy contributed less than 1 percent of Israel’s arms. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Italy still makes up 1 percent of Israel’s arms imports, the third highest behind the United States (64 percent) and Germany (33 percent).
Angelo Bonelli, spokesman for the European Green Party and member of Italy’s Chamber of Deputies, ripped into Meloni in Parliament May 18.
“You lacked the courage to denounce what the entire world can clearly see: genocide, deportation, and ethnic cleansing,” he said as Meloni smirked nearby. “You should be ashamed in front of the Italian people. I’m shocked and disgusted by your hypocrisy. How do you feel as a mother watching 18,000 children being killed? You didn’t even have the courage to condemn Netanyahu’s ministers.”
Meloni has met four times with Israel president Isaac Herzog, most recently in February when she re-emphasized the need for a ceasefire. However, it wasn’t until Thursday when she publicly denounced Israel, saying, “Israel’s response has taken on unacceptable scale and must stop immediately, protecting the civilian population.”
“I don’t believe it,” Avanzolini said. “It’s only words. Words are after 20 months of doing nothing. Words instead of sanctions. Sanction Israel.”
Added Irene Falchini who came down from Florence and sported a T-shirt reading, “TAX THE RICH”: “Finally. But after 60,000 civilians dead? It’s quite late. It’s not something in our history of what Italy should do. It should have a position.”
Young crowd
The crowd’s age range was wide but most were young. Andrea Maurilli, 26, came to Rome from Marcerata, 235 kilometers (140 miles) away near the Adriatic coast. I asked why it was important for him to support the Palestinians.
“For our future,” he said. “It’s important to have a future of peace and stand with the victims of the world. Don’t concede to (Israel prime minister Benjamin) Netanyahu or be in a conduit of silence in the European Union.”
Soon the massive wave of humanity began to ripple down the street. We walked down Via Statilia on our way to Chiesa di San Giovanni in Laterano to hear speeches. Then the clapping and chanting began.
“PAL-A-STINA LI-BER-A! PAL-A-STINA LI-BER-A!”
“NE-TAN-YA-HU ASS-A-SINO! NE-TAN-YA-HU ASS-A-SINO!”
And, of course, “CIAO, BELLA CIAO CIAO CIAO!”
We soon reached the majestic, gargantuan San Giovanni in Laterano, one of Rome’s four papal basilicas and a major destination for pilgrims during this year of the Roman Jubilee. I looked behind us up the street.
All I could see were signs and bodies and flags, stretching as far as I could see, seemingly to the horizon. Rome police estimated the crowd at 50,000 but Il Messaggero, Rome’s main newspaper, estimated it at 100,000 then the next day bought into the organizers’ estimate of 300,000.
Pro Israel crowd tries to be heard
Not everyone in Rome is pro-Palestinian. Last Sunday the Rome-based newspaper Il Reformista published a petition entitled “The Support of Israel and Against the Hunt for Jews.” In two days it collected 1,150 signatures from journalists, intellectuals, ex-politicians and public figures who said rallies such as Sunday’s increase “the spread of antisemitism while threatening the lives of Jews.”
They cited restaurants and shops with signs barring “Zionists.”
“We are non antisemitism,” said Mata Cominotti, a 34-year-old from Trentino in the Dolomite Mountains. “We just want to defend innocent women. The problem isn’t Jewish. It’s what the government is doing now.”
All I talked to agreed.
“They are not speaking the truth,” Maurilli said of those who signed the petition. “Because every leader who will speak at the demonstration will say Israel has a right to exist and Netanyahu is wrong. And Hamas are terrorists.”
The speeches
Attending the rally was a long line of public figures such as Giuseppe Conte, ex-prime minister and president of the Five Star Movement; Elly Schlein, head of the Democratic Party; and Rula Jebreal, the famed Palestinian journalist with dual Italian and Israeli citizenship.
“You are the piazza of humanity” Conte yelled at the crowd, “the answer we owe to the government and those who die in (Gaza) Strip!”
Schlein, whose father is Jewish, spoke of ethnic cleansing and that “Our harsh criticism of Netanyahu’s crimes is not antisemitism.”
Meloni didn’t make an appearance but Conte sent her a strong message.
“When there is a common concrete goal, a project, we have never shied away,” he told the crowd. “It is nice to mix the flags for a just cause. Meloni … we send her home with strong ideas.”
The supporters were quick to say they do not support Hamas, who started the war on Oct. 7, 2023 when it killed an estimated 1,200 Israelis and took 251 hostages. Many called them “terrorists.”
“Hamas sucks,” Cominotti said. “They’re worse, like the Israeli government. What they did to the Israeli people Oct. 7 was really bad but that doesn’t mean (Israel) deserves to kill many innocent people.”
I noticed something odd. Of 300,000 people, I saw very few Muslims. The crowd was almost entirely white Italians. My friend from Belfast, Patrick O’Byrne, said, “They don’t want to put their head above the parapet. If they’re Syrian or Iraqi, they fought their way here. They don’t want to put that in jeopardy. No chance.”
A Muslim’s view
I did find one. Ahmed Ghozzi is a 30-year-old Tunisian who came to Italy to study and settled in Rome as an engineer. He listened to the speeches with a checkered keffiyeh, the scarf popular in Muslim countries, over his shoulders.
He said rallies like this are important for the Palestinian cause.
“At least showing that people care is one piece of the puzzle in order to achieve the full picture of liberation,” he said. “Say we care and apply some pressure on a government that has the power to stop this genocide and stop this massacre.”
I asked him his views of Hamas.
“I do not condemn Hamas,” he said. “I think of them as a resistance group. In the United States in the 1700s George Washington was labeled a terrorist. And Nelson Mandela was labeled a terrorist 30-40 years ago. Hamas is now labeled as a terrorist group but that cause is liberation.
“I support them in this resistance against their oppressor and I will stand with any resistance group against their oppressor.”
I asked how he felt about Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7.
“I consider Oct. 7 was a reaction to the continuous oppression and it intended to take as hostage some military personnel,” he said. “Now about the 1,200 number, not even the Israel sources can agree on the exact number nor on how many civilians are among those 1,200 nor if it was really Hamas that killed them or not, as we had footage of the attack.
“However, to sum it up, I don’t accept any civilian casualties whoever was the culprit.”
My friends and I finally peeled from the crowd and headed to tony Merulana Cafe for ice-cold Moretti beers. As I reached for my wallet, I accidentally grabbed a flier handed to me as I entered the piazza a few hours before.
It was an announcement of another pro-Palestinian rally in Rome on June 21.
June 9, 2025 @ 6:21 am
I am so disappointed and disturbed to see the ignorance and hatred of Israel in Rome. Hamas slaughtered 1200 people on Oct 7, 2023, is still holding hostages, and embeds itself among civilians to cause maximum civillian casualties. They shoot their own civilians and steal the aid. No matter how many times people say they are not antisemitic, they demonstate that they are. Hamas is the villian in this war that they started. They wrote in their charter that they intend to keep killing Jews. Jews in other countries are being murdered and attacked. If anybody in this crowd really cared for civilians they might demonstrate for them in Yemen, Syria, Sudan , but it is only a cloak to hide their ignorance and Jew-hatred. Seems Rome has forgotten what they did to Jews less than 100 years ago.
June 9, 2025 @ 1:01 pm
Thanks for the comment, Jan. I think most everyone in the crowd agrees that Hamas are terrorists — as I quoted — and need to be eliminated. But I think what Italians think is Israel has gone too far in defending itself. Blowing up apartment buildings because intel says one Hamas fighter is in the basement is not defending itself.
June 9, 2025 @ 8:29 pm
What utter nonsense. You’re blind to the atrocities being inflicted upon the civilians of Gaza, and indeed the West Bank, on a daily basis. Antisemitism is a sick smoke screen the child killers of the IDF and murderous settlers use to hide their crimes. The World knows that what happened on 7 October was a terrible crime but also knows that that was not the start of this blood letting. You talk of the hostages but ignore the thousands of ‘prisoners’ held in inhumane conditions, without due process, in Israeli camps. Many of these are children. Hamas are monsters but they aren’t being supplied by the West. And the use of phosphorus bombs against civilians is itself a war crime. Anyone who isn’t horrified with the death toll in the occupied territories is a vile excuse for a human being. Many prominent Jewish people have called for an end to the barbarism. Are they antisemitic? Shame on you for closing your eyes and ears to the horror unfolding in the concentration camp that is the Gaza Strip! Shame on you!!!
June 9, 2025 @ 1:28 pm
I am happy to see the Italians turn out like that in support of Palastine. To say Oct 7th was the start of this is to ignore the history of what has been happening there for many years. Nothing justifies the genocide that is going on there. I wonder, if you compare which group has killed more innocent people, especially women and children, would it be Israel or Hamas. I think the clear answer would be Israel, with the help of the United States.
June 9, 2025 @ 2:40 pm
Thanks for the note, Sharon. What I liked about the Italians is they acknowledge Hamas’ cruelty. Backers of Israel don’t admit to war atrocities. There is evil on both sides.
June 9, 2025 @ 3:30 pm
Hamas WANTS civilian casualties. Israel does not. Ms. Barker misuses the word “genocide.” The population in Gaza has grown and Israel is sending in aid, trying to bypass Hamas, who steals the aid. Israel advise civilians when they are going to attack. That there is a demonstration for only Gaza, no concern for hostages, no acknowledgment of any other populations being starved and mistreated, like in Yemen, Syria, Sudan, Ukraine, etc. shows this was just “virtue signaling” hiding antisemitism. To say there is “evil on both sides” is simply wrong. Israel was attacked and its citizens slaughtered. War is brutal. No child anywhere should be caught up in war. It seems you believe that Israel should let itself be eradicated because you are not humanitarians when it comes to Jews and Israelis. That demonstration should have been to pressure Hamas to release the remaining hostages and to surrender!
June 9, 2025 @ 7:42 pm
You’ve read too much propaganda. If you won’t acknowledge Israel’s war crimes, that blowing up hospitals and apartment buildings is part of defending itself, if blocking supply chains (Yes, they are. Read the New York Times) and starving innocent people isn’t cruel, then you shouldn’t be in this discussion. The last video I saw before I stopped watching the news and only read it, was a man carrying his 5-year-old boy out of the rubble of the apartment building the Israelis destroyed. The boy was missing his arms. So Netanyahu, the architect of this, is a hero to you?
June 10, 2025 @ 3:52 am
No, I do not. I know that legacy media, including The New York Times, does not report the news, but shapes it, blaming Israel for things they later retract. The UN and formerly humanitarian organizations are simply anti-Israel. The Red Cross hasn’t checked on the hostages once. Hamas simply lies at every turn. Because you are in Rome, maybe you could get in touch with the SetteOttobre Associazione and/or people at the Tempio Maggiore. Perhaps they take people to Israel and you could go with them.
In case you might want to do some reading:”Israel: A Simple Guide to the most misunderstood Country on Earth” ” by Noa Tishby; “Israel Alone” by Bernard-Henri Levy; “Ghosts of a Holy War: The 1929 Massacre in Palestine That Ignited the Arab-Israeli Conflict” by Yardena Schwartz; “Son of Hamas” by Mossab Hassan-Yousef; and, “ On Democracies and Death Cults: Israel and the Future of Civilization” by Douglas Murray. Many more titles I could suggest. Maybe, because you are a reporter, you could get access to the videos of the October 7 slaughter that Hamas filmed as they were doing it.
I have gotten your newsletter for six years and read your book.
June 10, 2025 @ 5:12 am
Thanks for reading me. I think I’m a little more objective than the material you recommended.