Controversy has erupted over the participation of Jewish LGBTQ groups in Rome’s Pride event on June 20.
The organizers of Roma Pride say the Keshet Italia and Keshet Europe groups would not be allowed to have a parade float because they had failed to distance themselves from the "current genocide in Gaza."
Italian politicians and activists have criticized the exclusion.
The parade’s organizers published a political manifesto which condemns Israel's actions, and they say participants with a float are required to endorse all the demands.
Keshet Italia accused the organizers of “dangerous double standards” and said Italian Jews were being asked to distance themselves from a foreign government for which they were not responsible.
The group said it had been excluded “because we failed their political test.” Keshet is the Hebrew word for rainbow.
No other association is "subjected to an ongoing identity and political test to prove that they deserve to be there," it said. "Pride is becoming an ideological tribunal that drives away minorities and has lost its soul."
Pina Picierno, Vice-President of the European Parliament, wrote on X: "There is something profoundly wrong when a movement that emerged to defend minorities begins to decide which minorities are morally acceptable and which are not." Should the organizers stand by the ban, a "dangerous line" would be crossed.
Due to its heavy-handed approach in the Gaza war, Israel has repeatedly been accused of war crimes and, in some cases, genocide. The Israeli government categorically rejects these accusations.
The Gaza war was triggered by the unprecedented massacre carried out by the Islamist group Hamas and other extremist groups in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
