Overview

• Luca Nivarra, a civil law professor at the University of Palermo, urged followers to remove Jewish friends on Facebook, including “even the good ones,” as a protest against Israel’s actions.
• In additional posts he wrote that there are “no good Israelis,” labeled Israeli society “morally rotten,” and compared IDF soldiers to Eichmann.
• Rector Massimo Midiri condemned the call as a culturally dangerous personal initiative and referenced university motions that denounced both Hamas’s October 7 attack and Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
• Minister for Universities Anna Maria Bernini backed the rector’s position, calling the remarks unacceptable and saying conflicts are resolved through dialogue rather than isolation.
• Nivarra denied being antisemitic and complained of insults and threats on his page, and no disciplinary or legal measures have been announced in the coverage to date.