- Italians have mixed feelings toward Israel and the Jewish
community in their country, according to a poll published Monday, which
indicated there is stereotype-laden racism among one fifth of Italians.
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- In the national survey, which appeared in the daily Corriere
della Sera, seventy percent of responders said Israel had a right to exist
despite bad policies of the Israeli government, while 17 percent thought
it would be best if Israel ceased to exist altogether.
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- Also, 22 percent of respondents said that Italian Jewish
citizens "are not real Italians," while 51 percent of those polled
expressed the belief that Jews had a different mentality and lifestyle
to other Italians.
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- With regards to Israel, the poll showed that a majority
of Italians - 52 percent - do not identify with Israel, while 42 percent
of those questioned said that they do identify with the state.
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- The poll of 700 people was conducted last week by the
ISPO research institute, and was performed by Professor Renato Mannheimer,
a well known Italian sociologist.
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- The survey was ordered in the wake of the public debate
in Italy following the publication of the European Union survey, which
found that 59 percent of those polled believed Israel to be a threat to
world peace.
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- The Italian debate centered on whether the EU survey,
which made no mention of the Palestinian Authority on the grounds that
it is not a state, was biased or misleading.
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- Many public figures have since stated that those surveyed
in the EU poll did not understand the question posed. Mannheimer sought
to check whether this was indeed the case or if the poll did reflect the
Italian street.
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- The stance reflected by the Italians surveyed in the
latest poll runs contrary to the pro-Israel stance of their government.
The Financial Times reported Monday that Italian Prime Minister Silvio
Berlusconi has opposed an EU initiative to condemn Israel for boycotting
the European body's Middle East envoy Mark Otte.
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- <http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/359530.html>http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/359530.html
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