The American Jewish Committee is expanding its presence in Italy with a launch of a new chapter of its Transatlantic Friends of Israel network.
Begun in 2019, the network contains nearly 200 European, U.S., Canadian and Israeli national legislators.
The new Italian chapter is to be chaired by Marco Scurria, an Italian senator, who said at a May 31 event in Rome: “We are here today to reaffirm that our fundamental values, freedom and democracy represent the foundation of our long friendship with Israel, the only liberal democracy in the Middle East.”
Daniel Schwammenthal, director of the TFI network and its secretary general, told JNS, that the Italian chapter “will further strengthen the already strong existing, traditional ties between Italy, the U.S., Canada and Israel.”
One of the branch’s primary objectives will be to act as “a parliamentary advocacy force” that will push for Israel’s “right to security, peace, well-being and fair treatment in the international arena from such bodies as the U.N., the E.U. and the countries they represent,” he continued.
Schwammenthal told JNS that the chapter will focus on Iran and aim to achieve consensus on a terrorist designation for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in addition to helping prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.
He allowed that the Italian branch’s views on Israel would be rather similar to other European chapters, but said that “perhaps the Mediterranean temperament of Italian people has much in common with that of Israelis, and thus promises to produce even more reciprocal empathy and closer ties.”
