World Jewish Congress

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New York pressed outrage at the conviction of Italian journalist and politician Giuseppe (“Peppino”) Caldarola who had written an article criticizing a cartoon entitled ‘Fiamma Frankenstein’ that depicts fellow parliamentarian Fiamma Nirenstein, who is Jewish, with a hooked nose, the symbol of fascist Italy and the Star of David. Vauro, the author of the caricature which was published by the newspaper Il Manifesto, was acquitted by the same court of charges of anti-Semitism. Lauder called the ruling “a travesty and an insult.” “While the man who defends a Jewish woman is fined, the author of this blatantly anti-Semitic cartoon is acquitted and gets a free ride from the court to continue injecting venom into the political debate in Italy,” the WJC president declared in reaction. ”Nirenstein is an excellent lawmaker who does not shy away from doing political battle. Although one is entitled to disagree with her views, nobody is entitled to hold against her the fact that she is Jewish and dedicated to the wellbeing of Israel. Anti-Semitic or racist caricatures have nothing to do with satire, far from it; they are simply despicable.” Lauder called it “very worrying” that the judge had upheld the right to insult a Jew through by using age-old anti-Semitic imagery but denied the right of a journalist to accuse the cartoonist of being an anti-Semite.