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Italian authorities shut down an anonymous online effort asking the public to report the locations of Israeli tourists, Italian Jews and businesses believed to have ties to Zionism, drawing condemnation from senior government officials and Jewish leaders, who compared the initiative to fascist-era persecution.
“I think we’re going back to the 1930s to hunt Jews,” Walker Meghnaghi, president of Milan’s Jewish community, said after the Google form circulated on social media and messaging platforms.
According to reports, the questionnaire stated that its purpose was to “mapping Zionist tourism”, the purchase of property and described it as “Zionist neo-colonization” in Italy. It asked users to identify people in hotels, vacation rentals, businesses, and other public places that are affiliated with Jews, Israelis, and Zionism.
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People take part in a flash mob titled “In the same boat” to protest the detention and treatment of activists taking part in the Global Sumud Flotilla in Milan, northern Italy, on May 21, 2026. (AFP via Getty Images)
“The online mapping of so-called ‘Zionist tourism’, which has been rightly condemned by Walker Meghnaghi, president of the Jewish community of Milan, is a direct violation of fundamental human rights and the constitutional principles on which our country is based,” Italian Senate President Ignazio La Russa wrote in a statement translated into English.
He said, “Any way of listing individuals based on their religious belief or their association with Israel is not acceptable or appropriate. Underlying all of this is deep anti-Semitism, which must be unanimously, strongly and strongly rejected.” “We cannot stand still in the face of grave facts that remind us of the ghosts of the past. My deepest closeness to the Jewish community.”
According to Italian and Israeli media reports, the form was removed after the intervention of General Pasquale Angelosanto, Italy’s national coordinator for the fight against anti-Semitism.
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A view of participants in a flash mob demonstration in Milan, northern Italy, on May 21, as people gathered in a public space to show solidarity with detained Global Summud Flotilla activists. (AFP via Getty Images)
The questionnaire states, “The purpose of this form is to record cases of Zionist tourism, property purchases and, more generally, Zionist neo-colonization in Italy.”
It added that the information collected would be received by the Global Sumud Movement, an activist network associated with the flotilla’s efforts to reach the Gaza Strip, and would remain confidential. Respondents were asked to provide sources so that reports could be verified and used to coordinate unspecified “initiatives.”
According to The Jerusalem Post, the Global Sumud Movement denied introducing the form or knowing about it before the controversy began.
“Zionism is one of the issues we work on, but we do not hunt Jews, and we do not know anything about this questionnaire,” the group told Italian newspaper La Repubblica. “We didn’t turn it on and we didn’t even look at it before it went offline.”
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Protestors take part in a protest supporting the Global Sumud Flotilla following its blockade by Israeli forces on the Gaza coast, seen in Piazzale Loreto in Milan, Italy on October 2, 2025. (Alessandro Bremek/Nurfoto)
The organization said it became aware of the questionnaire through news reports and reserved the right to take further action, including issuing a formal statement.
According to La Repubblica, subsequent sections of the form asked respondents to name locations where Jewish or Israeli visitors were observed and to indicate whether local organizations or activist groups were already “managing the incident.”
Meghnaghi warned that collecting and disseminating such information could encourage extremists to target Jews and Israelis.
“What’s happening today shows that there are unbalanced people out there and if this kind of message spreads widely, you will definitely find someone who would be willing to act on it,” he said. “For this reason, mapping where the Jews are is extremely serious.”
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Italy’s Deputy Foreign Minister Alessandro Morelli described the form as “disgusting” and said those responsible should not be spared.
