Salvini in spat with Amnesty over Israel

(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 29 - The Italian section of Amnesty International on Sunday hit back at Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini after he accused the human-rights NGO of "racism" for pulling out of the Lucca Comics & Games festival because Israel's embassy to Italy is among the event's sponsors.
    "On this occasion, Salvini has shown that he does not know what racism is," Amnesty Italia spokesman Riccardo Noury told Today.it.
    "It is strange, because, as demonstrated by Amnesty International Italia's 'hate barometers', he definitely appears to be an expert in that matter," Noury added, referring to the NGO's annual report on its monitoring of the content of the Facebook and Twitter accounts of 85 politicians. Best-selling Italian cartoonist Zerocalcare said Saturday that he was pulling out of the festival for the same reason.
    "Unfortunately, the Israeli embassy's sponsorship is a problem for me," said the 39-year-old cartoonist.
    "When two million people are stuck in Gaza... coming to celebrate there is impossible for me.
    "I am sorry for my publishing house, for the readers and for myself too". (ANSA).