Salvini urges govt to back Israel

(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 12 - Nationalist League party leader Matteo Salvini on Wednesday urged the government, which the League supports, to take a firm position in favour of Israel in the ongoing conflict with the Palestinians and condemn "Islamist violence".
    A League statement said the anti-migrant former interior minister "has been receiving hundreds of threats and insults on social media since yesterday after expressing solidarity with Israel".
    Salvini said: "More than 1,000 missiles against Israel, deafening silence on the part of European institutions, the UN and too many governments on the Islamist violence.
    "A propos, I expect a firm condemnation of this aggression also from the Italian government.
    "Long live Israel which is defending its right to exist, long live peace and co-existence between people".
    The violence escalated into a full-blown crisis Wednesday, and dozens of people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes and Palestinian rocket barrages, while violent protests have erupted in mixed Jewish-Arab towns.
    At least 48 Palestinians including 14 children were killed in Israeli airstrikes while at least six Israelis were killed by rockets launched by militant group Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
    (ANSA).