Are Jewish gangs in Rome taking revenge for teens' murder?

[shaayecanaan]

Last edited Fri Jul 4, 2014, 01:47 PM - Edit history (1)

The incident apparently began broke when a group of street sellers on the Ponte Fabricio bridge shouted pro-Palestinian slogans at the Jewish procession, and in return were assaulted by marchers. Seven of the merchants, six men and one woman, were hospitalized after telling police officers that members of the Jewish group attacked them. Two sustained serious injuries. The victims declined to file a criminal complaint, but the Rome police are investigating the incident and are searching for the perpetrators.

Both incidents were indeed reported with extreme caution by the Italian media, with most avoiding identifying those responsible as Jews.

Some Jewish community figures fear the assaults could be the work of self-appointed Ghetto patrols: “The merciful understatement of the newspapers – ‘pro-Israel youths beat ...’ – [actually] alludes to a trend of squads that need to be stopped immediately,” tweeted Gad Lerner, a popular Italian-Israeli TV anchor often critical of pro-Israel hardliners.

These incidents were not the first in the Ghetto this year. In January, the left-leaning author Fabio Nicolucci was forced to cancel a presentation of one of his books, “La Sinistra e Israele” (Israel and the left) after violent protests erupted – a woman in the audience, who supported the presentation, was reportedly assaulted and required hospitalization. She pressed charges against her attacker and documented the incident in a letter to Shalom, the monthly newspaper of Rome’s Jewish community, in which she denounced the “shameful situation inside the Jewish community I belong to.”

Earlier in January, four pro-Palestinian activists were beaten by what they described as a gang of “about fifteen young men carrying baseball bats.” The incident took place late at night outside the Portico D’Ottavia, an ancient Roman building inside the Ghetto. The pro-Palestinian youths were walking back home after a night out, when they saw a poster commemorating Ariel Sharon, who had recently passed away, and ripped it off from the wall. Within minutes, they say, a group of armed men appeared and beat them up.

http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/.premium-1.602649

[King_David]

1. Link needs fixing ,

Jewish gangs ?

Sure breaks the stereotype .

[Igel]

2. It's the kind of article I can't think of having an intelligent response to.

Apart from questions.

Are there reasons for a self-appointed patrol? Do they conduct themselves reasonably or really just thuggishly at all times?

Is there still a ghetto or is it like Josefuv in Prague, a historical relic? (Josefuv is the old Jewish quarter in Prague, home of old synagogues, building formerly occupied by Jews, and cemetaries--but I'm not even sure Jews have even had continuous presence there in the 20th century. Certainly not a majority in the last 70 years.)

What are relations like between the Palestinian/pro-Palestinian community and the Roman Jewish community? Is this one of a long series of skirmishes that the American media has decided to take out of context, focusing on one side's sins when the situation is more that of a snake pit?

As for "Jewish gangs," gangs have a variety of structures and motivations. Lots of Russian stories from the early 20th century have Jewish gangs in them: Some were self-defense groups, given that there were pogroms and violence to defend against. Some were violent and had no problem with inflicting revenge attacks. Some existed just for warning--"a mob bearing torches is approaching, grab your kids and valuables and run." Some were criminal, swindlers, thiefs, cartels. Some were formed to help keep resources inside the ghetto, on sort of a "patrol the community's economic borders" mission or to keep young Jewish naifs from doing something stupid.

[shaayecanaan]

4. Its a bit like watching the football...

As long as its a reasonably cathartic experience, then no one will riot. If its a tepid affair, tempers will flare.

I suspect that Jews have become accustomed to Israel exacting a pound (or ton) of flesh from the Palestinians whenever something like this happens. Some air strikes on Gaza, a few live fire incidents in the West Bank. But they didnt get it this time.

A lot of Arabs were relieved when they heard news of the revenge killing of the Arab in East Jerusalem. A bit like the old Jewish joke: the ghetto hears word that a young girl has been killed, and they gather at the synagogue fearing that they will be automatically blamed and subjected to a pogrom. They are all startled to see the rabbi running towards them: wonderful news, he says. The girl that was killed was Jewish.

The revenge killing took the shine off the march to war, and no doubt saved many Arab lives.

[Kurska]

3. Not really

Back a generation or two my entire father's family was involved in the Jewish mafia in some form or another.

[shaayecanaan]

5. Same here...

all minorities imagine themselves the same way. Plucky, pugnacious, picking ourselves up by the bootstraps, quick-witted, spunky wisecracks, parry-thrust-parry-thrust. Never paying retail, my uncle knows a guy somewhere, there's my boy, he's my cousin, they're all my cousins. Mama says I should marry a nice girl from insert-place-of-worship-here. Live at home till I'm twenty-five. Another ostentatious wedding, pin the money to the bride's dress. Drink your grappa/ouzo/whatever. Why does everything taste of garlic?

[Kurska]

6. ...