An Israeli couple was refused admission to an Italian hotel where they had made a reservation, the manager accusing Israelis of being “responsible for genocide.”
A Jewish organization in Venice reported the incident on Nov. 14.
The couple had used an online booking platform to reserve two nights for the beginning of November at the Hotel Garni Ongaro in Selva di Cadore, a mountain village near Cortina d'Ampezzo, which hosted the 1956 Winter Olympics.
A day before the departure, they received a message from the hotel’s staff: “Good morning. We inform you that the Israeli people as those responsible for genocide are not welcome customers in our structure.”
The hotel manager then invited them to cancel their reservation, offering them free cancellation.
The governor of the Veneto region condemned the incident, calling it “extremely serious.”
“I feel deeply disturbed and I’m shocked by what has happened,” said Luca Zaia. “Veneto must guarantee its doors are open to all.”
Italy has seen a steady rise in anti-Semitic incidents, about 80 to 90 a week over the past year compared with 30 a week before, according to the Anti-Semitism Observatory in Milan.
In October, vandals defaced a mural in Milan depicting a survivor of last year’s Oct. 7 Hamas attack that killed 1,200 Israelis.
These take place against a backdrop of incidents across Europe where Israelis and Jews face anger or even brutality triggered by the Gaza war.
So far, 43,000 Gazans have been killed. The Israeli army says almost half were members of Hamas.
Israeli soccer supporters were attacked across Amsterdam after a Nov. 7 game in riots that injured at least five people and saw 62 arrested.
The Israeli army sent planes to The Netherlands to evacuate Israelis who wanted to flee.
Israeli fans were ambushed outside the stadium and across the city.
Some were thrown into canals, stabbed, or had their cars rammed, and cellphones and passports stolen.
Others were besieged at hotels or apartment buildings or turned away from businesses when they sought shelter.
The Israeli press, terming the violence a “pogrom,” expressed outrage that some media outlets downplayed it as typical violence among soccer fans.
Three days later, dozens of rioters clashed with police, setting a tram car on fire and smashing windows while one yelled, “Cancer Jews.”
France doubled the usual 2,000 officers for a “high-risk” soccer match.
Drawing even more attention to the game was French President Emmanuel Macron’s attendance “to send a message of fraternity and solidarity after the intolerable anti-Semitic acts” after the Amsterdam incident, which followed the match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv.
