Israeli and Jewish participants say they were driven out of Bologna Pride amid hostility

A group of Israelis and Jews who attended Bologna’s Pride parade in Italy says they were attacked, insulted and forced to leave after being identified as Jewish by the Pride flags they carried, which featured a Star of David. The confrontation happened on Saturday, June 14, 2026, and the community in Bologna was still shaken on Sunday morning.

According to the participants, the group arrived with rainbow flags and signs supporting LGBTQ rights and Jewish and Iranian communities. Melany Lasid, a Jewish resident of Italy for nearly 20 years, said she organized the mixed group partly in response to the removal of the Jewish LGBTQ organization Keshet from Rome’s Pride parade. “We came in a positive spirit,” she said, adding that “within minutes” they were surrounded by people shouting at them.

Another Israeli woman in Bologna, who attended with her partner and their son, said plainclothes police approached during the disturbance and told the group they had to leave because the situation could turn violent. “They said we were in danger and should get out,” she said. Lasid said the crowd harassed and pushed them, one woman tore the sign from her hands, and they had no choice but to leave. Another Israeli, who is heavily pregnant, said people yelled “murderers” and “Zionists are not welcome,” and one man tried to shove her before others intervened.

The participants said the crowd also shouted that they should “go back to the gas chambers,” and an Israeli living in Bologna with her partner said they were expelled with blows. The episode comes amid what the article describes as a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents against Israelis and Jews in Italy in recent weeks, including Keshet’s exclusion from Rome Pride for refusing to condemn Israel, hostile emails from accommodations asking guests to state opposition to the Israeli government, and a restaurant that refused a customer after noticing a Star of David on her Instagram page.