Italian media on Friday published documents that appeared to confirm long-held accusations that Italy had agreed on a deal not to interfere with Palestinian terror attacks on Jewish targets and had failed to prevent a 1982 assault on a Rome synagogue in which a 2-year-old boy was killed.
The documents showed that Italian intelligence had clear information on the planned attack on the synagogue but did not stop it, and police even reduced security around the Rome house of worship.
The allegations have been known since 2008, when former Italian prime minister and president Francesco Cossiga told the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Aharonoth that Italy had “sold out its Jews” and signed a deal that allowed Palestinian terror groups a “free hand” to operate against Jewish and Israeli targets in Italy in exchange for not attacking other Italian interests.
“In exchange for a ‘free hand’ in Italy, the Palestinians ensured the security of our state and [the immunity] of Italian targets outside the country from terrorist attacks. As long as these objectives do not collaborate with Zionism and with the State of Israel, ” Cossiga said.
At the time, the allegations were strenuously denied in Italy and Cossiga was portrayed as delusional.
However, documents unearthed now by Italian media showed that Italy clearly ignored threats against Jewish and Israeli institutions, particularly in the case of the 1982 attack on the Rome synagogue.
On the Shemini Atzeret holiday in 1982, several unidentified gunmen threw hand grenades and fired submachine guns at worshipers leaving the synagogue, killing 2-year-old Stefano Tache and wounding 34 people, including his 4-year-old brother and parents.
According to the documents revealed Friday, Italian internal intelligence, then-known as Servizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza Democratica (SISDE), sent several warnings to the government that groups of Palestinian students “intended” to attack Jewish targets in Rome. At the top of the list of possible targets was the synagogue.
A follow-up warning sent to the Italian interior ministry cited a “usually reliable source” that the Abu Nidal group planned to carry out an attack during the Jewish holiday period and was likely to hit Jewish sites as the Israeli embassy was too well guarded.
“A usually reliable source reported that Palestinians residing in Europe would be ordered to prepare to carry out a series of attacks on Israeli or European Jewish targets,” the cable warned.
But despite the warnings, not only was security not increased, but on the day of the attack, the usual police vehicle that sat outside the synagogue on holidays, was absent, the documents showed.
The attack came in the weeks following the Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon in a bid to prevent terror attacks by Palestinian factions on northern Israel.
In the weeks proceeding the attack, Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat had visited Italy where he was received by the Pope, the president and foreign minister and greeted with a standing ovation at a session of the Interparliamentary Union.
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