Jews join Vatican in condemning Berlusconi’s jokes
By APTuesday, October 5, 2010
Italian PM under fire again, for Jewish ‘joke’
ROME — The head of Rome’s Jewish community has joined the Vatican newspaper and others in rebuking Premier Silvio Berlusconi for a joke about Jews, money and the Holocaust which was caught on videotape.
The joke was one of several incendiary comments Berlusconi made while chatting with fans outside his residence on his 74th birthday last week.
On Saturday, the newspaper of the Italian bishops’ conference slammed the gaffe-prone premier, and the Vatican newspaper said his comments were “deplorable.”
In an open letter Tuesday, Jewish community leader Riccardo Pacifici deplored Berlusconi’s “imprudent jokes” and called on him to sever alliances with politicians showing “nostalgic feelings about fascism.”
Berlusconi has apologized.
