Israel should have let the Flotilla enter Gaza. It should do it for Vittorio Arrigoni, who was 36 years old and Italian.
His body was found in a house near Gaza. It would not dishonor his memory to describe him as a passionate anti-Zionist. That is precisely why he collaborated with the Islamists of Hamas. An Islamist group calling itself “Monotheism and Holy War” kidnapped “Vik,” publishing a video on YouTube showing him tied up, blindfolded, and bloodied. “Monotheism and Holy War” demanded the release of its imprisoned members in Gaza in exchange for the Italian. He was murdered several hours before the ultimatum expired.
His body was found in a house near Gaza. It would not dishonor his memory to describe him as a passionate anti-Zionist.
I do not remember the same outrage for Arrigoni being blindfolded and killed as there was for the images of the flotilla activists humiliated by the Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is somewhat like Israel’s yellow wire—the one who cuts off electricity on the ground—the dream of all antisemites who want to hate without remorse.
If he were still alive, Arrigoni would be aboard the Flotilla. But Arrigoni is dead. He was killed in Gaza not by Israelis, but by those Islamic fanatics whom these useful idiots defend so passionately.
Arrigoni, who collaborated with Hamas, discovered firsthand that “passionate anti-Zionism” is not a passport to eternal brotherhood. He was there to defend Palestinian Arabs and was killed by Palestinian Arabs.
He even got tattoos in Arabic. He literally carried the cause on his arm.
He believed he was one of the “good guys.” The ones who say “let’s remain human.”
A jihadist faction in Gaza kidnapped him, tortured him, called him a “kafir,” and executed him anyway. They did not care about his solidarity, his activism, or his tattoos.
Arrigoni reminded me of a left-wing Scottish academic, Malcolm Caldwell, for whom the communist experiment in Cambodia represented “the promise of a better future for everyone.” In December 1978, Pol Pot invited Caldwell and two other Western journalists to tour Cambodia. Caldwell was summoned for a face-to-face meeting with Pol Pot. A few hours later, he was murdered.
So then, considering that for a besieged democracy like Israel it is unsustainable to manage to board and repatriate a ship every month, I would let these strange Westerners enter Gaza.
Israel, tired of playing the role of the global villain, could indulge in a sociological experiment: open the ports and gates, transfer the volunteers onto the beach of Gaza City, and watch.
If Itamar Ben-Gvir were truly evil, he would already have allowed the Islamic Erasmus excursion group to enter.
Journalists should perhaps avoid going, since they could end up like BBC reporter Alan Johnston. Palestinian Arab terrorists even strapped an explosive belt onto him.
Even though both Al-Qaeda and ISIS are in Gaza (as if Hamas’s throat-slashers were not enough), Israelis should not worry about the safety of the Italian flotilla activists, since Greta Thunberg and the others say that everyone in Gaza is ready to welcome them as liberators.
The young Italian Angelo Frammartino was a Communist, singing about “the slingshots of Palestinian boys,” but he ended up stabbed to death in Jerusalem.
After all, wasn’t it the Israeli Air Force that killed the leader of the terrorist group that kidnapped and murdered Arrigoni?
The young Italian Angelo Frammartino was a Communist, singing about “the slingshots of Palestinian boys,” but he ended up stabbed to death in Jerusalem.
His murderer, who came from the cheerful Arab town of Jenin, thought Angelo was “Jewish.” The killer, linked to Islamic Jihad, had gone to Jerusalem intending to kill a Jew and instead found a young Italian.
If only the terrorist had known who his blade was about to slit the throat of, he would surely have stopped in time, embraced the pacifist, and gone in search of Jewish blood instead.
But reality does not read Amnesty press releases.
“Palestine” is not an ideal stage for moral redemption. It is an all too real, brutal place where Western dreams die strangled.
Published originally on May 24, 2026.
