The organisers of the Rome Pride Parade, which is set to take place in the Italian capital, have announced that the Jewish LGBTQ groups Keshet Italia and Keshet Europe will not be allowed to join the parade with a float, as they did not distance themselves from what they describe as the “genocide in Gaza.”
“Anyone who shares the founding values of our movement and our community can join us in the streets,” reads a statement shared on the Roma Pride official Facebook channel. “Participation of a float in the Roma Pride therefore presupposes — regardless of the sexual orientation, identity, religion, ethnicity, or nationality of those aboard — a clear and unequivocal stance condemning the genocide perpetrated by the Israeli government.”
“We are fully capable of distinguishing between the Israeli government and the Jewish community, made up of both LGBTQIA+ and non-LGBTQIA+ people, and we could never attribute to the latter responsibility for the criminal acts of war carried out by a genocidal government,” it adds. “We do, however, hold Keshet Italia responsible for having failed, and continue to fail, to distance itself from the ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
According to the statement, the decision was taken after the Roma Pride organizers met with representatives of Keshet Italia and Europe.
Israel firmly rejects the accusation of any form of genocide in Gaza, maintaining that it does its best to minimize civilian casualties in the Strip.
“The Roma Pride has shown its true colors,” Keshet Italia says in a statement. “Our crime? To be Jewish. This is just the last step in a hostile path. Last year, during the parade, we received explicit antisemitic attacks, and the Roma Pride chose to remain silent, refusing to condemn them. Today, that silence has become active complicity.”
Earlier this month, Keshet Italia published a long statement on Instagram about its position on several issues related to the Middle East conflict.
“While the conflict in the region is not our area of expertise, we feel close to the suffering of the Palestinian people,” the statement read. “However, we ask people to be careful with the language used to refer to this war.”
“The word ‘genocide’ is not neutral; it evokes a specific historic [occurrence],” it added. “We are especially concerned with the sentence that we keep on hearing that ‘the Jewish people are carrying out what they were subjected to,’ a sentence that does not just refer to a conflict or a government but ends up connecting what is happening to the whole Jewish people.”
For its part, the Union of Italian Jewish Communities has issued a statement expressing strong concern and deep opposition regarding the decision by the organising committee of Roma Pride to exclude Keshet.
“This is a decision that gives rise to strong disagreement, as it risks making the participation of Jewish citizens and associations conditional upon prior adherence to specific political positions and interpretations of international events, which, moreover, remain unproven and in no way established,” said the UCEI.
“Such an approach appears to run counter to the principles of pluralism, inclusion, and freedom of expression which constitute the very foundation of Pride events. No one should be required to pass an ideological test in order to participate in a space that exists with the aim of being inclusive and of guaranteeing dignity and rights to all people, regardless of identity, affiliation, or background. Pride events were created to include, not to exclude.”
