Silvio under fire for joke on Jews

Oct 07, 2010 |

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Oct. 6: The head of Rome’s Jewish community on Wednesday joined the Vatican newspaper and others in sharply rebuking Premier, Mr Silvio Berlusconi, for a joke about Jews, money and the Holocaust, which was caught on videotape.

The joke was one of several controversial comments Mr Berlusconi made while chatting with fans outside his residence on his 74th birthday last week. His comments were captured on video and broadcast this weekend on the website of the Left-leaning La Repubblica newspaper.

On Saturday, the newspaper of the Italian bishops’ conference slammed the gaffe-prone Premier and a day later the Vatican newspaper said his comments were “deplorable”. Mr Berlusconi apologised, sort of, saying what he had said wasn’t a sin or an offence, just a joke and that the bad taste was in those who published it.

In an open letter published on Wednesday by Corriere della Sera newspaper, Jewish community leader, Mr Riccardo Pacifici, deplored Mr Berlusconi’s “imprudent jokes” and called on him to sever alliances with politicians showing “nostalgic feelings about Fascism.

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