“Unfortunately, the Italian government has once again chosen the right wing, the right-wing side of history,” former Hamas health minister and current head of the organisation’s Council for International Relations in Gaza, Basem Naim, told Agora on Rai3.
“It is a very serious mistake that turns Italy into one of the parties of the aggression against our people.”
Italy has backed Israel’s right to defend itself after the October 7 Hamas attack that killed 1400 people in southern Israel and took 229 hostages, while also calling for Tel Aviv to allow aid and essential supplies into Gaza where a humanitarian catastrophe is looming.
It has also urged restraint so that civilian casualties are minimised during Israel’s retaliatory action to crush the Islamist militants.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani responded to Naim’s assertion that same day, saying the accusation is false.
Hamas’ accusation about Italy’s role as an aggressor “is a blatant falsehood,” Tajani said at a press conference in Turin.
“Instead, it seems to me that we are helping the Palestinian people given the material that arrived in Egypt yesterday and today.
“We are insisting with Israel that the Palestinian people be spared.
“We are against Hamas because it is a terrorist and criminal organisation.
“We defend the right of the Palestinian people to have a state, but we will never say that we are friends of Hamas.
“Condemning Hamas terrorism means telling the truth.”
ANSA
