Journalist Eric Salerno tells The Grayzone about decades of covert Mossad operations in Italy, revealing deep ties between Israeli intelligence and political violence during the Cold War.
A seasoned investigative reporter has uncovered Mossad’s secret role in the 1978 kidnapping and assassination of Italy’s Prime Minister Aldo Moro, noted for his pro-Palestinian stance, by the far-left Red Brigades.
In an interview with the independent outlet The Grayzone, Eric Salerno cited former Red Brigades member Alberto Franceschini, who revealed that Mossad was “in contact from the very beginning” with the terrorist organization.
Franceschini explained that such communication was “very normal in the way the Mossad acted with all kinds of, let’s call them subversive organizations, all over Europe,” and emphasized that “Israel” had “offered weapons and assistance” to the Red Brigades to help them “destabilize Italy.”
Wider context
On March 16, 1978, Moro was seized in Rome, with all but one of his guards killed. After nearly two months in captivity, during which the government refused to negotiate, Moro was murdered.
Salerno pointed to sources that attribute Moro’s death to Mossad involvement. In 1998, Giuseppe De Gori, a lawyer for Moro’s Christian Democrat Party, claimed that Mossad “had always controlled” the Red Brigades without formally infiltrating the group. He suggested that indirect Israeli interference led to the decision to assassinate Moro.
According to De Gori, “Israel” detested the “anti-Zionist” Moro and used its capacity to “smuggle” information to the Red Brigades to steer their actions. A Mossad colonel reportedly promised the group “weapons and whatever they wanted as long as they pursued a different policy.”
In 2002, De Gori informed author Philip Willan that Mossad effectively sealed Moro’s fate by forging a letter purportedly from the Red Brigades announcing the statesman’s death. “After that… Moro could no longer be saved,” he stated.
Dive deeper
Giovanni Galloni, formerly vice president of Italy’s High Council of the Judiciary, later asserted that Moro’s assassins were hired by Washington and/or Tel Aviv. He recounted Moro’s prior fears that US and Israeli intelligence agencies had infiltrated the Red Brigades, noting some abductors’ professional marksmanship suggested they were not genuine members.
In 2017, former magistrate Luigi Carli added that Mossad “co-financed” the Red Brigades. Collaborators believed that any actions “weakening, or helping to weaken, Italy’s internal situation” would “enhance Israel’s prestige and authority” in the Mediterranean region.
Salerno’s 2010 book, “Mossad Base Italy,” argued that cooperation between Italy and Israel predates the “creation of Israel” in May 1948. He highlighted that every Italian government since World War II had covertly supported Mossad, with Tel Aviv entrusting Italian intelligence with “extremely classified missions.”
“Israeli espionage agents confirm that Italy’s intelligence services are among the friendliest in the world toward their Israeli counterparts,” wrote Haaretz correspondent Yossi Melman in a book review.
‘An extension of the old fascist regime’
Salerno also condemned Italy’s present-day administration, describing it as “a continuation, even an extension, of the old fascist regime.” He observed that mainstream Italian politics currently show minimal pro-Arab leanings, with the US and “Israel” no longer perceiving the need to destabilize the country.
Regarding Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, he remarked that she harbors little sympathy for Palestinians and lacks intention to acknowledge a Palestinian state despite November 2024 revelations that Mossad had used a private Italian intelligence company to surveil her and members of her cabinet. “I think that basically, the government that we have here in Italy at the moment is a government that would like to criticize many things that are happening,” he commented, “but it can’t criticize Israel too much.”
Salerno also spoke about recent pro-Palestine protests in Italy, which saw roughly 10 injuries as police deployed water cannons and tear gas. “What is happening today in Palestine in Gaza is something exceptional,” he noted, adding that “nothing has been taught or spoken about” in Italy concerning the Palestinians’ long-standing hardships.
Original article: english.almayadeen.net
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