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".
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