Jerusalem – Before Berlusconi spoke today at the Knesset, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed him “as a courageous leader who always stands by Israel’s side.”
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He concluded a speech filled with praise for Berlusconi with a story of a heavily pregnant Italian woman who confronted a German officer during World War II and, at great peril to her own life, persuaded him to let an arrested Jewish woman go.
This woman’s actions “saved the life of the Jewish woman and cast, if only for a brief moment, a scintilla of humanity and courage upon the great darkness that enveloped the whole of Europe at that time,” Netanyahu said.
“That courageous woman’s name was Rosa. And one of her children is called Silvio Berlusconi, today the prime minister of Italy,” the prime minister said.
Netanyahu concluded his remarks by telling Berlusconi that, “We appreciate you. We embrace you. We love you.”
The two men embraced, and the Italian leader took out a white handkerchief to wipe tears from his eyes.
Wednesday marked the second anniversary of Rosa Bossi Berlusconi’s death.
wow! what a story. Now we can see why he is a friend of Israel and yidden worldwide. It is genetic.
Anyone know more details of that story? Who was the woman saved? Did she survive?
what a story!
As Rabbi Wein says, all his stories are true, just some of them haven’t happened yet.
The ITalians, in general, were very protective of their Jewish neighbors and friends, unlike the Germans, Poles, Latvians, etc. Only Mussolini was a meshugganeh and most Italians hated him too. There is a very common bond between Italians and Jews and I suspect a lot of intermarraige in the centuries that Jews lived there. Maybe they are part of a lost tribe? remember the ROmans brought many Jews back with them from their conquest of EY and Nusach Romani dates back to pre Temple times.
So our two best friends in Europe are Germany and Italy. Guilty conscience, perhaps?
What a great maaseh of his Mother. What zechus. That must be one reason for his bruchos of wealth and prosperity. I hope the details of his Mother’s rescue are written about by VIN soon.
Reply to # 7. Read the works of Italian Jewish writer Primo Levi.Let us know.!
viva la italia