Italy Shuts Down Online Campaign Tracking Jewish and Israeli Tourists

Italian authorities have dismantled an anonymous online operation that solicited public reports on the whereabouts of Israeli tourists, Italian Jews, and businesses perceived to have ties to Zionism. The initiative drew sharp condemnation from senior government officials and Jewish leaders, who likened the effort to fascist-era persecution.

“I think we’re going back to the 1930s, to hunting Jews,” said Walker Meghnagi, president of the Jewish Community of Milan, after the Google form began circulating on social media and messaging platforms.

The questionnaire described its purpose as mapping “Zionist tourism,” property purchases, and what it termed “Zionist neo-colonization” in Italy. It prompted users to identify Jews, Israelis, and individuals believed to be connected to Zionism at hotels, vacation rentals, businesses, and other public venues.

People take part in a flash mob entitled “In the same boat” to protest the detention and treatment of activists participating 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,’ rightly denounced by the president of the Jewish Community of Milan, Walker Meghnagi, is an aberrant initiative, in direct violation of fundamental human rights and the constitutional principles on which our nation is founded,” Italian Senate President Ignazio La Russa stated.

“No form of cataloguing persons on the basis of their religious belief or their connection with Israel is acceptable or justifiable. Behind all this lies a profound anti-Semitism that must be unanimously, firmly, and determinedly rejected,” he added. “We cannot remain motionless in the face of such serious facts that recall the ghosts of the past. To the Jewish Community, all my closeness.”

The form was removed following intervention by Gen. Pasquale Angelosanto, Italy’s national coordinator for the fight against antisemitism, according to Italian and Israeli media reports.

A view of participants in a May 21 flash mob demonstration in Milan, northern Italy, with people gathered in public space to show solidarity with detained Global Sumud Flotilla activists. (AFP via Getty Images)

“This form is intended to record cases of Zionist tourism, property purchases, and, more generally, Zionist neo-colonization in Italy,” the questionnaire stated.

It indicated that collected information would be received by the Global Sumud Movement, an activist network associated with flotilla efforts to reach the Gaza Strip, and would remain confidential. Respondents were asked to provide sources for verification and to coordinate unspecified “initiatives.”

The Global Sumud Movement denied commissioning the form or having prior knowledge of it before the controversy erupted, according to The Jerusalem Post.

“Zionism is one of the issues we work on, but we do not hunt Jews, and we know nothing about this questionnaire,” the group told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. “We did not commission it and had not even seen it before it was taken offline.”

Seen Oct. 2, 2025, in Piazzale Loreto in Milan, Italy, demonstrators participate in a protest supporting the Global Sumud Flotilla after its interception by the Israeli army off the Gaza coast. (Alessandro Bremec/NurPhoto)

The organization said it learned of the questionnaire through news reports and reserved the right to take further action, including issuing a formal statement.

According to La Repubblica, later sections of the form asked respondents to name locations where Jewish or Israeli visitors had been seen and to indicate whether local organizations or activist groups were already “managing the phenomenon.”

Meghnagi warned that collecting and circulating such information could encourage extremists to target Jews and Israelis.

“What is happening today shows that there are unbalanced individuals out there, and if this kind of message spreads widely enough, you are certain to find someone willing to act on it,” he said. “For this reason, mapping where Jews are is extremely serious.”

Alessandro Morelli, an Italian deputy secretary of state, denounced the form as “abhorrent” and insisted those responsible should not go unpunished.

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