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(CNN) - An 89-year-old Auschwitz survivor is now under police protection after receiving anti-Semitic attacks online and live in Italy, according to local reports.
Liliana Segre, who was only 13 years old when she was sent to the Auschwitz concentration camps, is a life senator who led the creation of a parliamentary commission against hate, racism and anti-Semitism, known in that country as the Segre commission.
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Recently she has been the target of at least 200 “particularly aggressive” daily attacks on social networks, the Jewish Center for Contemporary Documentation Foundation, based in Milan, told CNN.
"Every time prominent Jews receive media attention in Italy, they become subject to anti-Semitic abuse on the networks," Stefano Gatti, a member of the center, told CNN.
“The anti-Semitic insults come from extreme right-wing circles that have a past, and sometimes also a present, of violence. It is part of its code of radical right, this bellicose attitude ”.
He added that this avalanche of attacks has caused an increase in tensions, both online and physically.
The decision to assign two police officers to Segre comes after members of the Forza Nuova movement on Tuesday put up a banner in Milan near where Segre was speaking at an event, the ANSA news agency and Corriere della Sera said.
The motion for the Segre commission was passed last week, with the abstention of the right-wing opposition parties, which caused rejection and dismay in the Jewish communities in Italy.
Liliana Segre (Photo: Marco Piraccini / Getty Images)
The Forza Italia party of Silvio Berlusconi, the Matteo Salvini League, and the ultra-right party Brothers of Italy of Giorgia Meloni, alleged similar reasons for the controversial abstention.
Berlusconi defended the decision of his party, saying that the commission would establish "a new crime of opinion," said the ANSA.
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Salvini called it a "Soviet initiative" on a Facebook live. For his part, Meloni said in a video that the leftists are trying to create a new "political censorship."
But Ruth Dureghello, president of the Jewish community in Rome, called the abstention of certain political parties "disconcerting."
"It is a decision that we consider incorrect and dangerous," Dureghello told ANSA. “At this moment there is a need for union. I should not make room for ambiguity. ”
The Jewish Center for Contemporary Documentation Foundation has reported a significant increase in anti-Semitic attacks in Italy, especially on the Internet.
"From the beginning of the year until the end of September, we have recorded about 190 incidents, about 70% online," Gatti said.
The attacks include vandalism, defamation, insults and threats. In comparison, the total number of incidents during the past year was 197, and for 2017 it was 130.
Gatti said that the increase in these attacks is partly due to the deterioration of public discourse, whose most obvious phenomenon has been political radicalization.
"The extreme right feels more legitimate and strong, so they are more active," Gatti said.
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“20 years ago you could not be around screaming 'viva il Duce' (an expression reminiscent of fascist times), there was more reticence about extremist issues. The barriers have been lowered, so people feel more free to hate Segre on the internet. ”
Segre is one of the 25 children under 14 who survived after being sent to Auschwitz.
It was subsequently transferred to the Malchow camp, an area belonging to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, where it was liberated on May 1, 1945, according to the page of the Milan Shoah Memorial.
AntisemitismAuschwitzHolocaust