A Living Laboratory Against Terror: Proof That Israel Is the Solution, Not the Problem
In a special column, the editor of the Italian newspaper 'Il Tempo' describes the deepening rift on the continent: media and elites cultivating hostility toward Israel are being challenged by citizens who see it as the front line in the fight against radical Islam. "Israel is not just an ally, but a living laboratory of culture resisting the threat." The article also discusses how the migration crisis and chaos in Spain are accelerating public awakening in Europe.
I am writing these lines as the editor of an Italian newspaper that has never hidden its pro-Israel stance. I am addressing an Israeli audience because I believe it is important, and even necessary, to present an honest picture of the climate currently prevailing in Europe regarding Israel. This is a picture containing two opposing components that are destined to coexist for a long time.
The first component is worrying, and in many ways even bleak. In Europe, there is a climate of prejudice and political and media hostility toward Israel that has reached levels that were almost unimaginable just ten years ago. This is not just about criticizing the policies of a particular government. It is a dominant narrative that turns the legitimate self-defense of a Jewish and democratic state into "aggression," "occupation," and "genocide."
Ideological Wall
Newspaper editorial boards, universities, establishment left-wing parties, and a significant portion of European diplomacy have created a lexicon and an interpretive framework that make almost any balanced discussion impossible. After October 7, this hostility did not moderate, but only radicalized. This wall is in many cases ideological, cultural, almost theological. It is very difficult to break through it. Those who try to do so are marked, isolated, and sometimes even threatened.
However, there is also a second component, and in it lies a real reason for optimism. Beneath the official layer of media and politics, the mood among the European public, especially in Italy but not only there, expresses a growing and healthy suspicion toward political Islam and toward forms of migration that import and strengthen it. This is not racism — it is realism. It is the reaction of societies that have seen in their neighborhoods and cities the results of radicalization, imported antisemitism, and the demographic and cultural pressure that refuses to integrate.
This mood is not yet universal and is not organized, but it is real, and it is becoming more and more distinct. It is a factor that the elites are trying to censor or criminalize, but are no longer able to erase.
The Crisis in Ceuta as an Example
Just last week, we saw this brutal reality in Spain. Within a few hours, between 50,000 and 60,000 migrants, the vast majority of them young men from Morocco, arrived in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta by sea and land, flooding a city whose population is about 84,000 residents. Dozens died in the chaos.
Images of the mass border crossing, the bodies pulled from the water, and the political shock that followed the events, including the temporary suspension of Schengen arrangements between Italy and Spain, reminded European citizens again of the scale and speed of illegal migration, as well as the security risks associated with a large and uncontrolled flow of migrants from regions where political Islam and radical networks thrive. For many citizens, these are not abstract statistics. For them, these events are the daily experience of parallel societies, growing antisemitism, and the failure of integration.
Israel — A Laboratory of Culture
The difference between the two levels is strategic. At the first level, that of institutional and media hostility, the possibilities for rapid intervention are limited. At the second level, that of widespread realism in public opinion, there is an opening for cultural and political initiative. Israel is not just a military or diplomatic ally — it is a living laboratory of culture that has managed to withstand the Islamist threat without giving up its identity. Presenting this reality, without complexes and without rhetoric, can reach a much wider audience than the European newspapers would have us believe.
The role of people like me, who stand at the head of a pro-Israel Italian newspaper, is exactly this: to continue to appeal to that part of society that has not forgotten what the Islamist threat is, and that identifies in Israel not a "problem" but an example. The wall of the elites will remain high for a long time, but the ground beneath it is changing.
