Posted on 09/19/2003 6:23:31 AM PDT by OESY
As prime minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi has stirred squalls of criticism with his flamboyant statements — that a German legislator was like a Nazi commandant, that Islamic culture was inferior to Western culture and, most recently, that Benito Mussolini "did not murder anyone."
The last comment raised an uproar in Italy last week, given that Mussolini's Fascist regime helped the Nazis deport more than 7,000 Jews, killed political opponents and waged campaigns of conquest that left hundreds of thousands of people dead.
But Mr. Berlusconi has at least one loyal defender in New York City. Yesterday, Abraham H. Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, dismissed the criticism of the prime minister and said he had no second thoughts about bestowing an honor on him.
On Tuesday, the league plans to give Mr. Berlusconi its Distinguished Statesman Award at a gala fund-raising dinner at the Plaza Hotel. Henry Kissinger, Rupert Murdoch and Mortimer Zuckerman are on the dinner committee.
"He's a solid friend, but he's a flawed friend," Mr. Foxman said. "I wish he didn't say it. It was inappropriate, it was uninformed. That's not enough for me to say he's no longer a friend." Mr. Berlusconi's vocal support for Israel, for the American war in Iraq and for antiterrorism efforts made him worthy, Mr. Foxman said.
Other Jewish leaders suggested that a deep sense of worry about Israel, during a time of increased violence there, makes it easier to overlook flaws in the search for friends.
Without commenting specifically on Mr. Berlusconi's award, Jason Isaacson, the American Jewish Committee's director for government and international affairs, said: "World leaders who are seen as sympathetic to Israel are much prized. That solidarity earns rewards from the Jewish community."
The invitation was extended a year ago, Mr. Foxman said, long before Mr. Berlusconi's comments appeared in The Spectator, a British magazine, and La Voce di Rimini, a small Italian newspaper. Two journalists from The Spectator, one of whom also writes for La Voce, had interviewed Mr. Berlusconi at his vacation home in Sardinia.
They asked him whether the regime of Saddam Hussein could be compared to the Italian Fascist dictatorship. "That was a much more benign dictatorship," Mr. Berlusconi was quoted as saying. "Mussolini did not murder anyone. Mussolini sent people on holiday to internal exile."
A furor ensued, some of it generated by political opponents of Mr. Berlusconi, who is Italy's richest man, the owner of three television channels and master of the three state channels. He is also the frequent target of corruption prosecutors, whom he called "mentally disturbed" in the same interview.
Mr. Berlusconi later said he was simply refusing to accept the validity of any comparison between Mr. Hussein and Mussolini. He met with Italian Jewish leaders in an effort to mend relations, though some said they were not satisfied.
Tullia Zevi, a former leader of Italy's Union of Jewish Communities and one of the country's more respected public figures, said she had asked Mr. Foxman several days ago to rescind the award.
"He said Fascism was a very mild dictatorship!" Ms. Zevi said in a telephone interview from Rome. "It was so `mild' there were many political murders from the very beginning, and also for the Jews."
She said Mr. Foxman told her he wanted to pay homage to a man who was supporting an increasingly isolated American president.
"The feelings of a community that has been established here for 2,000 years have the right to be respected," said Ms. Zevi, whose family fled Italy when anti-Jewish laws were imposed in 1938. About 25,000 to 30,000 Jews live in Italy now.
Mr. Foxman said Mr. Berlusconi's support for Israel was particularly important because of what is perceived as increasing hostility in Europe. Mr. Berlusconi, who has the added platform of Italy's presidency of the European Union, has said publicly that he sees Israel as having a potential role in the union.
Mr. Berlusconi has a sometimes hostile relationship with the leaders of France and Germany and seems to relish taking positions at odds with them. In June, he went to the Middle East and met with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, but shunned Yasir Arafat. French officials criticized him for that. His response was that France had "lost an opportunity to keep quiet," evoking the line that President Jacques Chirac had used against Central and Eastern European countries that supported United States strategy toward Iraq.
This is not the case, however. I am increasingly disturbed how our society judges a person by last sentence that person said: poor choice of word crosses our entire lives and carrers of honorable people. That is wrong.
Berlusconi's deeds and stated positions speak for him better than an unfortunate choice of words in the last interview. The latter should therefore be ignored.
Most recently, Mr. Berlusconi was in the news for his comments about Benito Mussolini. "That was a much more benign dictatorship," Mr. Berlusconi was quoted as saying. "Mussolini did not murder anyone. Mussolini sent people on holiday to internal exile."
This is not true; Mussolini was responsible for the deaths of many political opponents, Partisans and Jews. He persecuted Jews with his racial laws and, during World War II, was responsible for the deportation of almost 7,000 Jews, who died in Nazi camps.
Mr. Berlusconi has apologized to Italian Jews for his statements. This is not enough; he has not apologized to Italians generally.
Apparently, the A.D.L. is giving Mr. Berlusconi its award because of his support of Israel and of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. But support of Israel should not be sufficient. In this case, it is bad for the Jews, bad for Italy, bad for the United States and even bad for Israel.
FRANCO MODIGLIANI
PAUL A. SAMUELSON
ROBERT M. SOLOW
Cambridge, Mass., Sept. 22, 2003
The writers, emeritus professors at M.I.T., are Nobel laureates in economics. The letter was also signed by four other professors at M.I.T. and Harvard.
KENNETH JACOBSON
Associate National Director
Anti-Defamation League
New York, Sept. 19, 2003
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