‘Jerusalem is Not the Capital of Israel’, Italian Court Tells RAI TV

August 7, 2020 Articles, Features
Palace of Justice in Rome. (Photo: File)

Flavio Insinna, host of the popular Italian TV show “L’Eredità” will have to deliver this statement next time he goes on the air: “International law does not recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel.” 

This official order has been dictated by the Rome Court (Tribunale di Roma) which, on August 5, ruled in favor of two Italian pro-Palestine organizations against Italian national public broadcasting company RAI.

 

The story goes back to May 21, when a TV game show contestant was asked what is the capital of Israel. The answer “Tel Aviv” was deemed wrong. The right answer, the contestant was told, is “Jerusalem.”

The incident sparked a public debate in Italy. Italian foreign policy remains consistent with international law, which does not recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. 

On June 5, the host of the show, Insinna, tried to dampen the controversy, delivering a statement that read in part that “there are different views on the issue”.

However, Italian lawyers Fausto Gianelli and Dario Rossi, representing “Associazione Palestinesi in Italia” and “Associazione benefica di solidarietà con il popolo Palestinese” respectively, decided to take the case to court. 

After deliberation, judge Cecilia Pratesi conveyed the much-anticipated ruling: “The Italian State does not recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.”

“It is well known that on December 21, 2017, Italy voted in favor of a UN General Assembly Resolution rejecting the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,” the judge said. 

“It is also well known that the UN itself repeatedly issued its opinion, condemning the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and East Jerusalem, and denying any legal validity to Israel’s decision to turn Jerusalem into its capital,” she added. 

“UN Resolutions”, the verdict continued, “have to be considered as conventional law, directly applicable in our legal system.”

(The Palestine Chronicle)

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6 Comments

  1. The embassy of the RACIST, PARASITIC, AND APARTHEID colony called “Israel” needs to be removed from the USA.

  2. And the capital of Italy isn’t Rome either. This is a screwy decision that wouldn’t hold up in a normal democratic country. It’s not up to the UN or another country to decide

    • Firstly: bravo on the decision by the court. Secondly: it is not a screwy decision, Italy is a normal democratic country, and when it concerns an ILLEGALLY occupied territory, according to international law, it becomes up to the UN and other countries to decide. And by the way (and I can’t believe I am saying this), since every single country on earth recognizes Rome to be Italy’s capital and no country disputes that, therefore it is. Do your homework.

    • Like it or not the whole world can see Israel’s human rights abuses, apartheid, land theft, and ethnic cleansing, and we don’t like what we see. The only individuals who support these abuses are those who’ve been corrupted, bribed and/threatened, normal people abhor these behaviours.

  3. Funny how the UN isn’t entitled to decide another country’s capital, but it was entitled to take a country away from its people and give it to mostly European refugees.

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