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April 17, 2002

Oriana Fallaci’s seminal speech (published in Panorama Magazine — april 17, 2002) in which she elaborates about European anti-semitism and the alliance between leftists and Islamofascism. You can watch the video and read the full english translation below.

‘Io Trovo Vergognoso’ (Translation: I find it disgraceful) by Oriana Fallaci — Part 1

Oriana Fallaci

I find it disgraceful, that in Italy there should be a procession of individuals dressed as suicide bombers who spew vile abuse at Israel, hold up photographs of Israeli leaders on whose foreheads they have drawn the Swastika, incite people to hate the Jews.

And who, in order to see Jews once again in the extermination camps, in the gas chambers, in the ovens of Dachau and Mauthausen and Buchenwald and Bergen-Belsen, etc., would sell their own mother to a harem.

I find it disgraceful, that the Catholic Church should permit a bishop, one with lodgings in the Vatican no less, a saintly man who was found in Jerusalem with an arsenal of arms and explosives hidden in the secret compartments of his sacred Mercedes to participate in that procession and plant himself in front of a microphone to thank in the name of God the suicide bombers who massacre the Jews in pizzerias and supermarkets.

To call them “martyrs who go to their deaths as to a party.”

I find it disgraceful, that in France, the France of Liberty-Equality-Fraternity, they burn synagogues, terrorize Jews, profane their cemeteries.

I find it disgraceful, that the youth of Holland and Germany and Denmark flaunt the Kaffiyah just as Mussolini’s avant garde used to flaunt the club and the fascist badge.

I find it disgraceful, that in nearly all the universities of Europe Palestinian students sponsor and nurture anti-semitism.

That in Sweden they asked that the Nobel Peace Prize given to Shimon Peres in 1994 be taken back and conferred on the dove with the olive branch in his mouth, that is on Arafat.

I find it disgraceful, that the distinguished members of the Committee, a Committee that (it would appear) rewards political color rather than merit, should take this request into consideration and even respond to it.

In hell the Nobel Prize honors he who does not receive it.

I find it disgraceful (we’re back in Italy), that state-run television stations contribute to the resurgent antisemitism, crying only over Palestinian deaths while playing down Israeli deaths, glossing over them in unwilling tones.

I find it disgraceful, that in their debates they host with much deference the scoundrels with turban or kaffiyah who yesterday sang hymns to the slaughter at New York and today sing hymns to the slaughters at Jerusalem, at Haifa, at Nethanya, at Tel Aviv.

I find it disgraceful, that the press does the same, that it is indignant because Israeli tanks surround the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, that it is not indignant because inside that same Church two hundred Palestinian terrorists well armed with machine guns and munitions and explosives (among them are various leaders of Hamas and Al-Aqsa) are not unwelcome guests of the monks (who then accepts bottles of mineral water and jars of honey from the soldiers of those tanks).

I find it disgraceful, that in giving the numbers of Israelis killed since the beginning of the Second Intifada (412), a noted daily newspaper found it appropriate to underline in capital letters that more people are killed in their traffic accidents (600 a year).

I find it disgraceful, that the Roman Observer, the newspaper of the Pope — a Pope who not long ago left in the Wailing Wall a letter of apology for the Jews — accuses of extermination a people who were exterminated in the millions by Christians, by Europeans.

I find it disgraceful, that this newspaper denies to the survivors of that people (survivors who still have numbers tattooed on their arms) the right to react, to defend themselves, to not be exterminated again.

I find it disgraceful, that in the name of Jesus Christ (a Jew without whom they would all undoubtedly be unemployed), the priests of our parishes or social centers or whatever they are flirt with the assassins of those in Jerusalem who cannot go to eat a pizza or buy some eggs without being blown up.

I find it disgraceful, that they are on the side of the very ones who inaugurated terrorism, killing us on airplanes, in airports, at the Olympics, and who today entertain themselves by killing western journalists. By shooting them, abducting them, cutting their throats, decapitating them. There’s someone in Italy who, since the appearance of “the Rage and the Pride,” would like to do the same to me. Citing verses of the Koran, he exorts his “brothers” in the mosques and the Islamic Community to chastise me in the name of Allah. To kill me. Or rather, to die with me. Since he’s someone who speaks English well, I’ll will respons to him in English: “Fuck you!”

I find it disgraceful, that almost all of the left, the left that twenty years ago permitted one of its union processionals to deposit a coffin (a mafioso warning) in front of the synagogue of Rome, forgets the contribution made by the Jews to the fight against Fascism. Made by Carlo and Nello Rosselli for example, by Leone Ginzburg, by Umberto Terracini, by Leo Valiani, by Emilio Sereni, by women like my friend Anna Maria Euriques Agnoletti who was shot at Florence on June 12, 1944, by 75 of the 335 people killed at the Fosse Ardeatine, by the infinite others killed under torture or in combat or before firing squads. (The companions, the teachers, of my infancy and my youth.)

‘Io Trovo Vergognoso’ (Translation: I find it disgraceful) by Oriana Fallaci — Part 2

I find it disgraceful, that in part through the fault of the left — or rather, primarily through the fault of the left (think of the left that inaugurates its congresses applauding the representative of the PLO, leader in Italy of the Palestinians who want the destruction of Israel) — Jews in Italian cities are once again afraid. And in French cities and Dutch cities and Danish cities and German cities, et cetera, it’s same.

I find it disgraceful, that Jews tremble at the passage of the scoundrels dressed like suicide bombers just as they trembled during Krystallnacht, the night in which Hitler declared it “open season” on the Jews.

I find it disgraceful, that in obedience to the stupid, vile, dishonest, and for them extremely advantageous fashion of Political Correctness the usual opportunists (or really, the usual parasites) exploit the word ‘peace’. That in the name of the word ‘peace’, by now more debauched than the words ‘love’ and ‘humanity’, they absolve one side alone of its hate and barbarity. That in the name of pacifism (read “conformity”) delegated to the singing crickets and buffoons who used to lick Pol Pot’s feet they incite people who are confused or ingenuous or intimidated. Trick them, corrupt them, carry them back a half century to the time of the yellow star on the coat. These charlatans who care about the Palestinians as much as I care about the charlatans. That is, not at all.

I find it disgraceful, that many Italians and many Europeans have chosen as their standard-bearer the gentleman (or so it is polite to say) Arafat. This nonentity who thanks to the money of the Saudi Royal family, plays Mussolini ad perpetuum and in his megalomania believes he will pass into history as the George Washington of Palestine. This ungrammatical wretch who, when I interviewed him, was unable even to put together a complete sentence, to make articulate conversation. So that to put it all together, write it, publish it, required a tremendous amount of effort and I concluded that, compared to him, even Ghaddafi sounds like Leonardo da Vinci. This false warrior who always goes around in uniform like Pinochet, never putting on civilian garb, and yet, despite this, has never participated in a battle. War is something he sends, has always sent, others to do for him. That is, the poor idiots who believe in him. This pompous incompetent who, playing the part of Head of State, caused the failure of the Camp David negotiations. All the mediation on the part of Clinton. No, no, no. I want Jerusalem all to myself. This eternal liar who has a flash of sincerity only when (in private) he denies Israel’s right to exist, and who as I say in my book contradicts himself every five minutes. He always plays the double-cross, lies even if you ask him what time it is, so that you can never trust him. Never! With him you will always wind up systematically betrayed. This eternal terrorist who knows only how to be a terrorist (while keeping himself save) and who during the Seventies, that is when I interviewed him, even trained the terrorists of Baader-Meinhof. With them, children ten years of age. Poor children. Now he trains them to become suicide bombers. A hundred baby suicide bombers are in the works. One hundred! This weathercock who keeps his wife in Paris, served and revered like a queen, and keeps his people down in the shit. He takes them out of the shit only to send them to die, to kill and to die, like the eighteen-year-old girls who, in order to earn equality with men, have to strap on explosives and disintegrate with their victims. This presumed revolutionary who, to his own people, has never given a shred of democracy. I’m not speaking of the true democracy which the Israelis enjoy. I mean, even a tiny shred of democracy. And yet, many Italians love him. Yes. Just like they loved Mussolini. And many other Europeans feel the same.

I find it disgraceful, yes, and see in all this the rise of a new fascism, a new Nazism. A fascism, a Nazism, so much more grim and revolting because it is conducted and nourished by those who hypocritically pose as do-gooders, progressives, communists, pacifists, Catholics, or rather Christians, and who have the nerve to label a warmonger anyone like me who screams the truth. Who, like me, always railed against war. As much as them, I could have never imagined it. I see it, the resurgence of the new Incubus. Yes. And I say the following. I have never been tender with the tragic, Shakespearean figure of Sharon. “I know you’ve come to add another scalp to your necklace,” he murmured almost with sadness when I went to interview him in 1982. I have often had disagreements with the Israelis, ugly ones, and in the past I have defended the Palestinians a great deal. Maybe more than they deserved. Even considering that during the Second World War they aligned themselves with Nazi Germany. But I stand with Israel. I stand with the Jews. I stand just as I stood as a young girl during the time when I fought with them, and when the Anna Marias were shot. I defend their right to exist, to defend themselves, to not let themselves be exterminated a second time. And disgusted by the antisemitism of many Italians, of many Europeans, I am ashamed of this shame that dishonors my country and Europe. Europe, at best, is not a community of States, but a pit of Pontius Pilates. And even if all the inhabitants of this planet were to think otherwise, I would continue to think so.

Part 1 — Youtube video is broken

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJA6S9HjHJY

Part 2 — Youtube video is broken

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91dn2bisq18&NR=1

Oriana Fallaci (29 June 1929 — 15 September 2006) was an Italian journalist, author, and political interviewer. A former partisan during World War II, she had a long and successful journalistic career. She interviewed many internationally known politicians, religious leaders and celebrities. After retirement, she returned to the spotlight after writing a series of articles and books critical of Islam and antisemitism.