ELNET hosted its first delegation organized by its newest affiliate in Italy.
Just weeks after its official launch, ELNET-Italy successfully brought a large delegation of 10 Italians to Israel. The delegates included members of the Italian Parliament from both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. Several leading journalists also joined the delegation.
The delegates came to Israel as part of a solidarity mission in the aftermath of the barbaric attack by Hamas against Israel on October 7th.
As the world continues to be horrified from the barbaric atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7, it is shocking that so many still voice scepticism over the validity of events. ELNET is devoted to exposing the truth about the Hamas attack and ensuring that European leaders continue to publicly acknowledge what happened. For that purpose, ELNET initiated an emergency program to bring European policymakers and opinion leaders to Israel on solidarity missions to hear first-hand testimonies and witness the carnage for themselves, and share back home the truth about they saw.
During this most recent solidarity mission, the Italian delegates saw the unimaginable evidence of the atrocities committed by Hamas in Israel’s south. They met with the family members of the hostages who are still being held by Hamas in Gaza and heard their harrowing stories.
The delegates visited the Shura base for body identification where the IDF briefed them on the gruesome task of handling the abused and burned remains of hundreds of bodies of men, women, and children. Some body bags are still being held there a full two months after the attack, their contents so badly mutilated they have not yet been identified and laid to rest.
They saw the piles upon piles of thousands of incinerated and completely destroyed cars, many with the passengers having been shot to death or burned alive while inside. These burnt-out shells are all that remain as testament to the horrors that took place on the morning of October 7th.
They visited injured survivors and heard their accounts of narrowly escaping the deadly attack and the long journey to physical and emotional recovery. At the hospital they were also briefed by Ichilov Head of International Relations on the emergency response efforts.
While in Israel the delegates had important meetings at the Knesset with Israeli lawmakers and in the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
They were briefed by Micky Rosenfeld, Superintendent from the Israel Police International Cooperation Unit who gave the participants a broad overview of the Israeli Police as they were the first respondents and the major force acting on the ground the morning of the October 7th attack. They were also briefed by the former Spokesperson of the IDF, Arye Shalicar on Israel’s geostrategic challenges, as well as were briefed by ELNET-Israel CEO Dr. Emmanuel Navon.
Following the return home of the delegates, much press coverage of their trip and the truth about what they witnessed was published in important Italian news outlets.
ELNET-Italy will continue to work hard to garner solidarity from Italian leaders and strengthen the relations between Italy and Israel especially in these times.
