World
Israelis say they were attacked at Bologna Pride for carrying rainbow Star of David flag
A group of Israelis were pushed and verbally accosted by attendees at the LGBTQ Pride Parade in Bologna, Italy, on Saturday, witnesses told Israel’s Channel 12 television station.
The group was waving a pride flag with the Star of David in the center, which other parade attendees took issue with, prompting the altercation. According to the report, a pregnant woman among the group of Israelis was violently pushed.
“They screamed at us that we were murderers; all the children there were scared,” one Israeli was quoted as saying.
“I stood with my wife and son and another family who came with strollers, and we filmed their screams,” another added, “We were with children, proud families who came to march in an event founded to promote our rights – and we were attacked because we are Jews.”
This year’s parade, held under the title “Rivolta Pride” (“Revolt Pride”), revolved around a number of themes, including climate change and several LGBTQ-centered issues such as recognition of same-sex families and access to HIV prevention medication, although organizers emphasized that support for the Palestinian people was also a key focus of the parade, according to Italian daily Corriere della Sera.
Organizers said one of the activists who took part in the recent Gaza aid flotilla and was subsequently detained in Israel would be attending the parade.
Italian media reported that Palestinian flags were waved alongside Pride flags throughout the demonstration.
At a Pride parade in Bologna, Italy, Israelis and Iranians who had been marching together were assaulted by Free Palestine activists who demanded they take off their shirts which featured a Star of David.
The Italian-Iranian organization “Woman, Life Freedom,” condemned the… pic.twitter.com/qXbKmKUuD6
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) June 13, 2026
Protesters could reportedly also be heard chanting “Queers know which side to stand on: Free Palestine, from the river to the sea.”
Banners and signs displayed in the march were said to read the slogan “no Pride in genocide,” referencing accusations that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip during the war triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught. Israel has denied the accusations.
In another altercation reported by local Bologna news outlets, anti-regime Iranians marched with their country’s pre-revolutionary flag and were met with chants of “Zionists out of the march.”
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing government also reportedly came under fire, with organizers condemning cuts to healthcare and welfare, saying over loudspeakers, “The Pride march is the highest form of queer self-expression, despite attempts to erase our identity.”
Last month, Rome Pride said it had barred Italy’s only Jewish LGBTQ group from operating a float at its annual parade, after Keshet refused to sign onto the event’s political platform, which includes a condemnation of what organizers call the “genocide in Gaza.” Organizers said the group had failed to “distance itself” from an “ongoing genocide.”
