7 October: Mattarella warns against hatred; Meloni calls for an end to the spiral of violence. Schlein: two peoples, two states

The remembrance of the victims – particularly civilians – of the Hamas massacre. The call to halt the spiral of violence fuelled by the Israeli response. And the renewed commitment to the ‘two peoples, two states’ political solution. This is the common thread, albeit with different nuances, running through the messages from the Head of State, Sergio Mattarella, the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, and the leader of the PD, Elly Schlein, following the massacre of 7 October 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed.

“I wish to reaffirm the Italian Republic’s solidarity with the people of Israel, the families of the victims and those who still bear the scars of that terrible day,” said Mattarella, who added that “acts of terrorism can never be justified or swept under the carpet”. Indeed, “they will remain, for all peoples, a painful warning so that the barbaric and uncivilised scourges of terrorism, anti-Semitism and every form of ethnic and religious hatred may be forever condemned and firmly rejected, in the Middle East and throughout the world”. The President of the Republic noted, however, that those ‘repugnant acts’, committed ‘with extreme and inhuman cruelty’, have ‘reopened a dramatic phase of instability and violence in the region’. Consequently, ‘the atrocious suffering caused’ by the Hamas massacre ‘is compounded by that which, even more so since then, has been weighing heavily on multitudes of Palestinians’.

Mattarella emphasised that ‘the military operations carried out by Israeli forces in Gaza have caused human and material devastation of an intolerably grave nature’. ‘At the same time,’ the Head of State added, referring to the West Bank, ‘the process of eroding territories assigned to the Palestinian National Authority is unacceptable’. Hence the appeal: “The spiral of unprecedented violence must be halted, and instead the conditions – now deeply compromised – for coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians must be re-established within the ‘two peoples, two states’ framework, so that they may live peacefully, side by side.” And the final assurance: “Italia will continue to support every effort aimed at achieving this objective.”

In a statement, Meloni, whilst commemorating the victims of the massacre, also wished to reaffirm her ‘solidarity with their loved ones, with those who endured the horror of the kidnapping, and with the Israeli people’. ‘The passage of time does not diminish the gravity of those crimes. No cause,’ explained the Prime Minister, ‘can justify the deliberate massacre of innocent people. Remembering this also means renewing our commitment to combating all forms of anti-Semitism.’

In line with the Head of State’s remarks, the Prime Minister added, however, that ‘precisely in the name of protecting the entire civilian population involved, we cannot remain indifferent to the dramatic and unacceptable suffering of the people of Gaza or to the escalating violence to which Palestinian civilians in the West Bank are being subjected’. This warning is identical to that of Mr Mattarella, as is the commitment to ‘two peoples, two states’: ‘The spiral of violence must be stopped,’ the Prime Minister emphasised, adding: ‘Italia will continue to work towards a peace that guarantees security for Israelis and a future of freedom and dignity for Palestinians, with a view to two states living side by side within recognised borders. A future in which there is no place for terrorism and no child has to grow up in fear and hatred.”