On Saturday, our Italy correspondent Nicholas Farrell asked readers for their help in persuading his Italian wife and six children that Israel is not guilty of genocide in Gaza, a genocide they believe Giorgia Meloni is complicit in. His daughter, Magdalena, 18, has asked for a right of reply, which we are publishing below:
Dearest Papà,
Sorry but I’m not going to let you get away unchallenged with speaking behind our backs in The Spectator about me, mamma and my five brothers and sisters. Here’s my response, on our behalf, to your rat-like plea for help from readers on how to persuade us we are wrong about the genocidal behaviour of the Israeli army in Gaza.
Knowing that we were about to take part in the demonstration, you kicked off: ‘Oh God, why are all of you against me?’ Giuseppe, the youngest who is only ten, retorted: ‘But Papà it’s you who is against us?’
Nothing those readers have told you in the 900 comments below the piece will change our minds – certainly not their personal insults such as calling us ‘revolting brats’ and ‘literally brainwashed’, or that we live in a ‘social media illusion’. Because the truth is not an illusion: Israel is guilty of genocide in Gaza. And Giorgia Meloni, our prime minister, is complicit in that genocide – as is any leader of a country that sells arms to Israel.
This week was the anniversary of the massacre by Hamas of 1,200 Israelis and the taking of 250 hostages. Obviously that was unforgivable. I suffered immensely for all the victims, especially those young people at the music festival in the desert. It was a truly horrific attack. Indeed, I would not want to attempt to justify or understand it, for example by reference to the historic suffering of the Palestinian people. But I remember very well thinking at the time: poor Palestinians, how will Israel react?
Please let us not forget: there is a big difference between a Hamas terrorist and a Palestinian. And so now I suffer for all the Palestinians, especially the children, who are being killed by the Israeli army.
Netanyahu long ago exceeded any decent limit. Around 70,000 Palestinians are dead, and that figure includes, yes, Hamas terrorists but many, many more civilians, women and children, medics and paramedics.
Every death is terrible but I am especially horrified by the death of Hind Rajab, aged five, in January 2024, one of 18,000 children killed. Hind and six members of her family were in a car attacked by an Israeli tank which killed the adults in the car. Her 15-year-old cousin who survived phoned the Palestinian Red Crescent Society but was soon afterwards also killed. Hind managed to use the same phone to guide the ambulance to the car with Israeli permission but then contact was lost. Twelve days later, the car and ambulance were found along with the bodies of Hind, her six relatives and two ambulance crew. The car had 335 bullet holes in it. If that is not genocide then I do not know what is. Newborn babies and children are not members of Hamas. Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on whose head hangs an international arrest warrant for crimes against humanity, is committing genocide (the intentional destruction, total or partial, of a national, ethnic, racial or religious group).
For all this, I, mamma, my elder sister Caterina, aged 22, and younger brother Giovanni Maria, aged 13, took part in the general strike in Italy last Friday. The organisers said we were two million, the government 400,000. And the next day in Rome alone, there were one million people demonstrating for the same reason – 250,000 according to the police. Whatever the exact figures, those are still huge numbers of people.
On Friday, during the strike, there were those who chose to sleep, and others to have lunch out together. Instead, I and friends from school decided to protest in the piazza against a genocide that has been going on now for two years.
Early Friday morning we were all seated around the kitchen table drinking a coffee when you appeared like a ghoul. Knowing that we were about to take part in the demonstration, you kicked off: ‘Oh God, why are all of you against me?’ Giuseppe, the youngest who is only ten, retorted: ‘But Papà it’s you who is against us?’
Once I reached the university of Forlì (the venue for the demo) I found myself among a sea of people, all highly organised with flags, banners and face paint crayons. I asked a girl to put on one cheek ‘FREE’ and on the other the Palestinian flag.
We split up into several different processions. We were in the one organised by Rete Studenti (Student Network) and hand in hand we moved off towards the main city square Piazza Saffi. A huge number of people joined us: old people, fathers and mothers with babies in prams, or on shoulders. A sea of people with the same thoughts in mind: Peace! Basta Wars! Free Palestine! Basta genocide!
Later, mamma, Caterina and Giovanni Maria joined us. Afterwards we went to eat lunch at grandma’s house in Forlì. It was with great regret that I felt I had to take off the ‘Free Palestine’ message from my face.
Towards evening, back home in Ravenna, I bumped into you, who having seen my photos from the march on WhatsApp, welcomed me with a barrage of questions,
‘What did the slogans say? I didn’t properly understand the words of the songs, what were they? I am English you know.’
On and on.
‘Do you know what genocide means?’ you repeatedly asked.
‘To liberate Italy we English had to kill 60,000 civilians with our aerial bombardments of your cities. Was that genocide?’
An absurd comparison.
‘You’re just a sheep, you’ve been manipulated,’ you bleated. ‘Obviously you haven’t studied the facts on what is really happening have you?’
Luckily, I was not alone and mamma was there with my five brothers and sisters to give me support.
Your intention was merely to write an article for The Spectator which you did and which was titled ‘My Italian family believe Meloni is complicit in genocide’.
‘Tell me again what were the exact words of that song you all sang,’ you said. ‘Hurry up, I’ve got to write an article.’
That was the purpose of all your questions.
You criticise me because I sang ‘Palestina libera dal fiume fino al mare!’ (Free Palestine from the river to the sea!) at the demonstration because it is used by Hamas and its supporters to mean ‘Destroy Israel and the Israelis’. But I, we, just want Palestine to be free.
When I read your article, as you can imagine, I really enjoyed reading the 900 comments underneath most of them criticising me, my mother and my brothers and sisters. But it’s your fault Papà. You began the article saying ‘I would like to ask readers for help’ and ended ‘So, dear readers, how would you handle such conversations with your wife and children?’
Grazie papà! Grande, grande!
But I shall continue on the same road as before even more motivated, as will the rest of the family apart from you.
When I told you I was about to write this article to defend myself, mamma and my brothers and sisters, from you, you replied with your usual la-di-da inglese aplomb: ‘I deserve it.’
As we say in Romagna: Hai voluto la bici … Adesso pedala! (You wanted a bicycle… Now peddle!).
All my love
Magdalena
Translated by Nicholas Farrell.
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