ROME -  La Sapienza University, which is one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Italy, situated in Rome has revoked the authorization for the presentation in the physics faculty of the book The Thorns and the Carnation, written by Yahya Sinwar, leader of Hamas and widely considered the mind behind the attack of 7 October in Israel. 

  The decision was announced on the evening of Feb. 28, following controversy. The local Jewish community has stated that the ban was the responsible choice and laid the blame for the incident on the radicalisation prevalent in many university environments and on the people who fund these particular movements. 

  Noemi Di Segni, president of the Union of Italian Jewish communities, commented that 

“It’s all well and good that the danger has now been understood. The lucidity and consistency of La Sapienza and Rector Polimeni, has not been taken for granted. The challenge, however, remains within the universities to stop boycotts, injuries and forms of language aimed at spreading hatred or incitement of terror.”

 Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi even waded into the debate stating that "The expression of freedom of thought is sacred, however, we do not need to cross certain lines.” He continued to underline that the right to freedom expression cannot become "an instrument to evade the principles of our civil and democratic life.” 

 After being faced with the university's decision, the Pro-Palestinian student faction immediately announced their intention to carry out the initiative in any case. ‘The university management have censored a public and literary event. The event will be reorganized,’ they declared, accusing La Sapienza of having sold out when faced with pressures from the Roman Jewish community.

 "In 2021, well before 7 October 2023, under similar pressures, the university cancelled a talk from Amnesty International on the State of Apartheid in Palestine," added the student group. 

 Davide Piccardo, publisher of the book, defined the revoked authorization as an unacceptable act of censorship for a public university. "All it took was a simple phone call from Jewish communities, which in the light of their positions would be better to call ‘Zionist community,’ to silence the debate," said Piccardo, who then directly addressed Noemi Di Segni stating that “she should be ashamed to support the policies of genocide perpetrated by Israel". The publisher himself then reiterated that the presentation will be held anyway.

 On the afternoon of March 3, the confirmation arrived that instead The Thorns and the Carnation was to be presented on March 5 at 3 p.m. in the Faculty of Letters at La Sapienza. 

 “In light of recent events, the defamatory accusations and the censorship campaign we have suffered, this presentation is more necessary than ever. Defending the right to knowledge and debate is the duty of all. We invite everyone to participate to affirm the principle that no book must be censored and that the university must remain a place of intellectual confrontation and freedom of thought ", the organizers reiterated.

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