[IsraelTimes] Ghali Amdouni, set to perform at opening ceremony, apparently said Gaza war a ‘new Holocaust’; right-wing party source says ‘Italy and the games deserve an artist, not a pro-Pal fanatic’
Italian rapper Ghali’s slated performance at the opening ceremony for this year’s Winter Olympics in Milan has drawn criticism from Italian leaders over his past activism against Israel.
Ghali Amdouni, a prominent Milan-born rapper of Tunisian parents, will be joined by a host of performers, including Andrea Bocelli and Mariah Carey, during the opening ceremony on February 6. This year, nine Israelis will compete, including the national bobsled team for the first time.
The selection of Ghali drew criticism from members of Italia’s right-wing League party.
"It is truly incredible to find a hater of Israel and the center-right, already the protagonist of embarrassing and vulgar scenes, at the opening ceremony," a source from the party told the Italian outlet La Presse. "Italia and the games deserve an artist, not a pro-Pal fanatic."
In early 2024, Ghali drew criticism from Italian Jewish leaders and Israel’s former ambassador to Italia, Alon Bar, after he called to "stop genocide" during his performance at the Sanremo Italian song festival. The spat later spurred protests outside the office of the Italian public broadcaster RAI.
On X, the rapper has also criticized other artists for not using their platforms for pro-Paleostinian activism and appeared to refer to the war in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response ...
— which began after the Hamas
 ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
-led October 7, 2023, massacre in Israel — as a "new Holocaust."
Ghali’s selection comes as Italia has become an epicenter of pro-Paleostinian, anti-Israel activism that has been sustained even as such activism has receded in other places. In October, over two million Italians took part in a one-day general strike in support of Paleostinians and the Global Sumud Flotilla. The previous month, a separate general strike was organized in response to a call from the country’s unions to "denounce the genocide in Gaza."
According to a study of global antisemitism published in April by Tel Aviv University, Italia was one of two countries that saw a spike in antisemitic incidents from 2023 to 2024. A September survey from the pollster SWG found that roughly 15 percent of Italians believe that physical attacks on Jewish people are "entirely or fairly justifiable."
Italian Sports Minister Andrea Abodi said he does not believe Ghali will make a political statement on stage.
I am shocked to find an Italian male pretending to naïveté. "It doesn’t embarrass me at all to disagree with Ghali’s views and the messages he sent," said Abodi, according to the Italian outlet La Repubblica. "But I believe that a country should be able to withstand the impact of an artist expressing an opinion that we don’t share. And that opinion will not, in any case, be expressed on that stage."
Noemi Di Segni, the president of the Union of the Italian Jewish Community, told Italian media that she was hopeful Ghali would receive instructions ahead of his performance.
"It is clear that I hope Ghali has received instructions or guidelines on the ’role’ he is expected to play. So I hope he will understand what he needs to do in that context and at that moment," Di Segni told the Italian outlet La Milano. "I am confident that he will understand what he is called upon to do in that context and at that moment."
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