ROME (JTA) – The president of the Rome Jewish community revealed that he too had been sent the severed head of a pig about 10 days after pig heads were sent to Rome’s main synagogue, the Israeli embassy and a museum with an exhibit on Jewish culture in January.
Riccardo Pacifici made the revelation during testimony Wednesday at the trial of seven right-wing extremists accused of violating Italy’s anti-racism, anti-fascism laws by scrawling anti-Semitic graffiti on city walls. Pacifici said he had not alerted the media to the incident earlier in order not to give it attention.
At the close of his testimony, according to local media, Pacifici and one of the defendants got into a shouting match that nearly came to blows. The reports said that defendant Stefano Schiavelli had verbally “provoked” Pacifici in a way that prompted Pacifici to accuse him of threatening him. The reports said Pacifici was escorted from the court by his bodyguards, repeatedly stating that he was “not afraid.”
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