Two disturbing anti-Israel incidents at Italian universities on Tuesday drew national attention amid an alarming rise of antisemitism across Europe, Ynet reported.

A violent incident took place at the University of Pisa, where dozens of pro-Hamas rioters holding Palestinian flags and shouting anti-Israel epithets stormed a lecture by Prof. Rino Casella, a non-Jew whom they had labeled a “Zionist.” A student who tried to push the protestors out was beaten. Casella then tried to intervene and was also beaten. He was later hospitalized with head injuries and bruises.

“They barged in—young men and women, basically fascists—and demanded I stop teaching,” Casella told Corriere della Sera. “One grabbed my microphone, and another took the book I was holding and threw it to the ground. Why? Because the book had a small American flag on it. He shouted that I was a ‘dirty imperialist.’”

“I intervened when they hit one of my students and was punched hard in the face,” he said, noting he would need a week to recover.

Terrified students phoned the police, but Casella asked officers not to enter the classroom, fearing it would set a troubling precedent.

Casella noted that he is not Jewish but believes he was targeted for opposing the university’s recent decision to sever ties with Israel. Flyers circulated against him branded him a “Zionist.” Casella said refusing to denounce Israel was enough for activists to accuse him of “genocide.” “I don’t think Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to genocide,” he said. “And I don’t consider ‘Zionist’ an insult.”

A second incident occurred the same day at the Polytechnic University of Turin, where Israeli Prof. Pini Zorea of Braude College of Engineering in Karmiel had been invited to teach a course. Pro-Hamas rioters disrupted his class, accusing him of enabling Israeli “apartheid” via facial-recognition technology. Zorea responded to the protesters calmly, acknowledging his past IDF service and describing the army as “the purest in the world.” The remark triggered an uproar, with students accusing him of justifying violence.

Zorea stressed that his lecture was unrelated to the war and defended the IDF as acting “professionally and with restraint.” When activists shouted “Free Palestine,” he replied, “I want Palestine free as well—free of Hamas.”

Within hours, Polytechnic Rector Stefano Cornietti suspended Zorea, declaring, “As soon as I heard these unacceptable statements, I immediately ended the cooperation with the lecturer. The Polytechnic has always condemned all violence in this war and the ongoing slaughter of civilians in Gaza.”

The incidents follow a politically tainted decision by faculty at the University of Florence to delay the start of the academic year in solidarity with Palestinians and in protest of “Israeli genocide.” Several Jewish faculty members expressed grave concerns about the move.

Weeks earlier, a professor at the University of Palermo caused a furor after urging his followers on Facebook to “unfriend all Jews you know—even the good ones, because they are the worst, collaborators.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)