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The Jews of Italy

Jews have been present on the Italian peninsula from the time of Judah Maccabee.

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

Italy only became a unified country in the latter part of the 19th century, before which it was a patchwork of regions invaded, occupied and ruled at different times by different powers. The history of Italy’s Jews reflects this, alternating between periods of prosperity and persecution depending on the ruler.  

“No other place in the western Diaspora can indeed boast a Jewish presence that has been so ancient, widespread and constant,” the scholars Anna Foa and Giancarlo Lacerenza wrote in their book on the first 1,000 years of Jewish history in Italy.

Italian Jews in Antiquity

Jews probably lived in Rome by the third century BCE. In 161 BCE, only a few years after defeating the Seleucid King Antiochus , Judah Maccabee sent a diplomatic mission from Judea to Rome headed by Jason ben Eleazar and Eupolemos ben Johanan. According to the historian Cecil Roth, the fact that the names of the two Jewish ambassadors are known bears a special significance.

“These are the first Jews to be in Italy, or to visit Europe, who are known to us by name,” Roth wrote in The History of the Jews in Italy . They are “the spiritual ancestors of Western Jewry as a whole.”

Ancient Rome’s Jewish population was swollen by slaves and prisoners brought back after the sack of Jerusalem in the year 70 CE. The Arch of Titus in the Roman Forum bears a famous carving showing Roman forces in a triumphal procession bearing the menorah and other loot from the destroyed Temple . The arch was such a powerful symbol that Roman Jews refused to walk through it for centuries. They finally did so only in 1948, joyously parading beneath it to celebrate the birth of Israel. 

From late antiquity to the early Middle Ages, most Jews lived in well-established communities in southern Italy and Sicily. Jewish catacombs and other archaeological evidence demonstrate a sizable Jewish population at Venosa, an important ancient crossroads between Naples and Bari from the fourth to the ninth century. 

The 12th-century Spanish Jewish traveler Benjamin of Tudela visited Italy on his journeys in the 1160s and 1170s. His trips took him to several Jewish communities in southern Italy, but he mentioned only two major Jewish communities north of Rome: Pisa and Lucca.

Middle Ages and the Renaissance

Jewish communities flourished in central and northern Italy in later centuries, bolstered by Sephardic Jews fleeing Iberia after the expulsions in the late 15th century and by small groups of Ashkenazi Jews from central Europe. Great ports such as Venice, Ancona and Livorno became crossroads of Jews from many lands and backgrounds. In some cities, Jews of different traditions built separate synagogues. 

But in the decades after the expulsion of Jews from Iberia, Spanish rulers also banished all Jews from Sicily and south of Rome. Jews consequently moved north, to Venice, Ancona, Florence, Bologna and Padova. Both secular and religious authorities began instituting further restrictive measures. In 1516, civic rulers in Venice forced Jews to live in a closed district on the site of an old foundry. The word “ghetto” is believed to come from “geto,” the Venetian dialect for foundry. 

In 1555, Pope Paul IV instituted the ghetto in Rome and other cities in the papal states. Branding the Jews killers of Christ , the decree condemned Jews to live in segregated areas, barred them from owning property or having more than one synagogue per community, forced them to trade only in secondhand clothing and required them to wear a distinguishing yellow hat or other mark. In 1569, Pope Pius V went further. He expelled Jews from almost everywhere in the papal lands, allowing them to live only in the ghettos in Rome and Ancona. Many Jews fled northward. Within little more than a century, closed Jewish ghettos were in place in most towns and cities in Italy that were home to Jews. New ghettos continued to be established until the end of the 18th century.

Despite this, Jewish religious and cultural life flourished during the ghetto period. Venice became a major European center of Hebrew publishing, for example, and behind anonymous outer walls, highly decorated synagogue sanctuaries were built.

Emancipation and the Holocaust

The emancipation of the Jews and the abolition of the ghettos didn’t take place until the 19th century. Napoleonic rule in north-central Italy eased restrictions on Jews for a brief period at the turn of the century, but this was followed by a renewed crackdown after Napoleon’s fall in 1815. With the Italian peninsula still under a variety of regional rulers, Jews became involved in the general struggle for unification, taking an active part in the Risorgimento, or Italian liberation movement, between 1848 and 1870. 

The defeat of papal forces and confinement of the pope to Vatican City in 1870 brought down the gates of the last closed ghetto, in Rome. With emancipation, Italian Jews eagerly adopted an Italian identity and quickly integrated into mainstream society. 

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, they built grand new cathedral-style synagogues that proclaimed their pride and freedom and they entered all professions and walks of life. There were already Jews in parliament in 1871; Italy had a Jewish prime minister, Luigi Luzzatti, in 1910; and between 1907 and 1913, Rome had a Jewish mayor, Ernesto Nathan. 

Like Italians in general, Jews backed both liberal and conservative political movements. Thousands of Jews even joined Benito Mussolini’s Fascist party. In 1943, after Allied troops moved through southern Italy, Nazi Germany occupied northern Italy and began deporting Jews to their deaths. More than 8,000 Jews, around a quarter of the Jewish population, were deported and killed.

Italy’s Jews today

Today, Italy’s affiliated Jews number fewer than 30,000 out of a total population of 60 million. Around three quarters live in Rome and Milan with the rest in a handful of other towns and cities, almost all in northern Italy. But despite their small numbers, they make up a multifaceted, complex community, whose richness and diversity — combining Ashkenazic, Sephardic, native Italian and other Jewish traditions — bear witness to a complicated history dating back to antiquity. 

Many Jews in Italy today are immigrants (or the children of immigrants) who came to Italy in the past few decades, including thousands of Libyan Jews who fled after bloody anti-Jewish riots in 1967. Three main types of religious rites are celebrated: Sephardic, Ashkenazic and Italian — the latter a local rite that evolved from the Jewish community that lived in Italy before the destruction of the Temple.

The vast majority of Italy’s Jews are nominally Orthodox. Most, however, are not strictly observant. Even observant Jews are typically highly acculturated, with a strong Italian as well as Jewish identity. Jews are active in all fields, from the arts to business to politics, and despite their small numbers hold prominent positions. 

All officially established Italian Jewish communities are Orthodox and operate under the umbrella of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities (UCEI), which is their official collective representative to the state. Particularly in the larger communities, there is a well-organized infrastructure of schools, clubs, associations and other services, including a rabbinical college. 

Reform and Conservative Jewish streams are not officially recognized by the UCEI, although several small liberal Jewish communities have developed in Rome, Milan and Florence. They function outside of UCEI but affiliate with international progressive Jewish organizations. Chabad also operates outside the UCEI umbrella, with an active presence in Rome, Milan, Venice and Bologna.

In 1986, Pope John Paul II visited Rome’s towering Great Synagogue, the first ever visit by a pope to a Jewish house of worship. John Paul made bettering relations between Catholics and Jews a cornerstone of his papacy, and his visit to the synagogue marked a watershed moment in the process — and was particularly significant for the Jews of Rome, who had suffered for centuries under oppressive papal rulers. His successors, Popes Benedict and Francis, also visited the synagogue and reaffirmed their commitment to Jewish-Catholic dialogue. 

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Jewish Heritage of Italy

Jewish settlement in Rome goes back to 161 B.C.E. and is considered the oldest Jewish community in the Western world. This itinerary will take you to Rome and Venice and discover its Jewish heritage. The trip begins in Rome with a food tour in the Trastevere area and includes the Jewish Ghetto with Synagogue visit and Campo dei Fiori, along with a private ancient Rome tour with skip the line tickets and a visit to the Vatican from a Jewish perspective. After a high speed train to Venice, you will enjoy a stroll through Venice’s Jewish Ghetto while sipping wine and trying delicious appetizers. Highlights include Cannaregio, known for the 16th century Jewish Ghetto and its modern day shops and restaurants, a private Grand Canal boat tour, and a boat trip to the islands of Murano and Burano, famous for their glass making, lace work, and kaleidoscopic buildings.

The package includes:

• Private transfer from FCO airport to Rome hotel
• 4 nights accommodation at Hotel Mozart in a deluxe room with private balcony
• Private food tour of Rome: Campo dei Fiori, Jewish Ghetto, and Trastevere, 2 ½ hrs.
• Private ancient Rome tour with skip the line tickets, 3 hrs.
• Semi private Jewish Ghetto Tour with Synagogue inside visit, 3 hrs.
• Semi private Vatican tour from Jewish perspective, 3 hrs.
• Private transfer from Rome hotel to Rome train station Termini
• High Speed Frecciarossa train with premium seats to Venice, 4 hrs.
• Private taxi boat to hotel in Venice city center
• 3 nights accommodation at 4 star hotel in Venice city center
• Small group evening Jewish Ghetto stroll with wine and appetizers, 2 ½ hrs.
• Jewish Venice and Cannaregio, 3 hrs.
• Private Grand Canal boat tour, 3 hrs.
• Discover the Gems of the Lagoon – The Islands Murano and Burano, 4 ½ hrs.
• Boat transfer from your hotel in Venice city center to Marco Polo airport

If you like this package but prefer to customize it in any way, such as a different style of hotel, additions or subtractions in the number of nights, extensions to other cities or a change in the number of participants, please send an email to [email protected] or call 800-877-1755.

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Venice unmasked.

Felix Pope ventures off the beaten tourist track to discover Europe’s most famous ghetto and forage in the canals

BY Felix Pope

Zooming along the waterways of Venice in a wooden speedboat, one can hardly fail to think of Indiana Jones. As I travelled at a dizzying number of knots from the airport to my hotel, piloted by an Italian seemingly determined to humiliate his rival taxi drivers by overtaking at any opportunity, the cinematic chase scenes filmed in these waters were the images which sprung first to mind.

Then, appearing on the horizon, a spread of belltowers, churches, and palazzos. To the right, the island cemetery founded by Napoleon. To the left, a string of smaller, less densely inhabited islands stretching out across the lagoon.

I had been to Venice once before with my family but I arrived more sedately then, chugging in with the rest of the schmucks on a public ferry. To really understand the appeal of this most unique of cities, I now know the wooden speedboat is a must.

Visiting the northern Italian city for a three-day minibreak, my agenda read: palaces, gondolas, wine, art and gelato. Or to put it another way, Canaletto through an Aperol spritz-coloured haze.

The first problem with Venice, or at least, writing about Venice, is the weight of history. To Italo Calvino (in Invisible Cities , my aeroplane reading) it was a thousand different mirages at once, a dreamlike space that existed more as fantasy than physical city.

To Jan Morris, it represented the frontier of east and west, “half-way between the setting and the rising sun”. The world’s longest-lived republic (as the locals will still tell you with pride) has received its fair share of adulation over the years..

The second problem, which follows from the first, is the tourists. Of course, to be a tourist while complaining about other tourists is the height of hypocrisy. And none of us are now, really, any better than anyone else with access to the easyJet sale and a Lonely Planet guide.

But to walk through the gilded majesty of Piazza San Marco surrounded by herds of Russians pulling suitcases, Americans wearing cruise ship merchandise, and red-faced Brits is to feel a certain sense of loss. Could I really not have managed to visit alongside Jan in the 1950s?

Colourful buildings in Venice (Photo: Unsplash)

The good news, however, is that despite it all, the city retains its charm. Walk a few streets away from the very centre, take a wrong turn and lose your sense of direction, and the romance is clear.

Fortuitously, one of the best spots to escape the tourist churn is the historic Jewish ghetto.

This district, immortalised by Shakespeare, was not the first urban zone in which Jews were forced to live, a dubious honour belonging to Frankfurt. Venice did become, however, the model for every ghetto that followed, bequeathing a distinct mode of living that defined European Jewry for hundreds of years.

I arrived on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, my back slick with sweat thanks to a power walk along the canals. My guide, Lucia, was not a Venice native, but had moved to the city to study and, like so many others before her, fallen in love with its unique charms.

The ghetto, she told me and the young Americans and Israeli boomers also signed up for our walking tour, was founded in 1516 by decree of Doge Leonardo Loredan and the Venetian Senate. (Turns out republics are just as capable of antisemitism as monarchies.)

The area expanded gradually over time, with new sections added to reflect the city’s swelling Jewish population. Located in the Cannaregio district, it was once the site of a copper foundry, or ghèto . Once German Ashkenazim arrived with their hard gs, the word’s pronunciation shifted to its modern use.

Despite its charm in the afternoon sun, it was clear this was a prison as well as a home. At night drawbridges providing access to the rest of Venice were raised, turning its canals into a moat.

Bridge in Cannaregio (Photo: Unsplash)

The city’s inhabitants relied on Jews to provide medical care, to trade with them, or to lend money, but did not wish to provide them with too much freedom.

Walk around and if you can spot all the synagogues (some remain well hidden) the district’s history is outlined in stone. Separate shuls exist for the Italian, German, Sephardi and Levantine communities – a testament to the diversity of Jewish migration to this trading hub.

Today there are, predictably, not too many left, although non-profit charity Save Venice has been restoring the interiors of the 16th-century Italian synagogue as part of an ongoing campaign to protect the city’s unique heritage, including buildings, artworks and other cultural treasures.

But in the ghetto’s central square, as we stopped to discuss medieval persecution, I spotted a very contemporary succah. Underneath I found a group of Chabadniks, immediately keen for me to shake a lulav with them.

Standing just opposite a memorial to Venetian Jews murdered in Auschwitz, communal life is still very much alive.

My own base was the elegant Ca’ di Dio. Once a humble guesthouse for pilgrims, it is now a luxuriously renovated hotel sitting in the heart of the city. Since its founding in 1272, this site has greeted visitors as varied as crusaders en route to commit atrocities in the Holy Land and tourists en route to Gucci.

Room at Ca' Di Dio (Photo: Ca' Di Dio)

Following a redesign by Patricia Urquiola (Europe’s “most lauded and in-demand industrial designer”, per the New York Times ), its simple white-washed walls and wooden beams provide an element of understated charm amid this sometimes overwhelming city. This is (to deploy an overused contemporary phrase) quiet luxury at its peak.

Try the pan-fried sea bream at its in-house Essentia restaurant, if you’re passing, or pop in for a glass of wine at the Alchemia Bar found within the courtyard at its heart.

Ca’ di Dio can also help you discover some other less well-known sides to the city, and I set out on a tour of the local flora and fauna, as part of the hotel’s “Botanical Experience”.

I was greeted by a local guide and botanist Gabriele Bisetto, who’s passionate about the area’s plant life. A grinning, bearded foodie, he led us on a tour of the Venetian archipelago’s ghebi — a network of gullies, channels and waterways in the lagoon, passing between the many islands found here.

At almost every turn, Gabriele was able to grab some green tuft from the bank and detail the recipes it might be used in. Smiling broadly, he rhapsodised about the pasta dishes of his hometown while dispensing herbs and other plant life to my awaiting mouth, some of which have also inspired dishes back at Ca’ di Dio — salt from the lagoon is even used to make a special gin.  

Botanical Experience gin (Photo: Ca' di Dio)

When you plan your meals in Venice, give the pizza a miss by the way. Dry and doughy, this Napolitan speciality is out of place in the lagoon. Here you must eat fish, fish and fish, caught fresh from the lagoon. When you’re sick of that, try the cicchetti — finger food appetisers best sunk alongside a glass of wine as you stand next to a canal.

The other must is Aperol spritz. Now ubiquitous in Britain, the orange cocktail is not only the perfect mechanism to cool down after a canal-side walk, it is also cheap and the municipal drink of choice.

The key is to make sure not to order it with Aperol. Here, the locals prefer Select — a slightly more bitter spirit, which, in my opinion, rounds out the cocktail’s flavour. Whatever version you pick, however, the startlingly low prices are likely to stun any visitor from London. By day three I was browsing the city’s rental market online.

Alongside history and food, no trip to Venice is complete without art so I finished my trip with a visit to Ca’Rezzonico. An 18th- century palace located on the Grand Canal, it now houses much of the city’s greatest artworks.

An immense baroque building, its bombastic rococo charm sums up much of what makes the Venetian aristocracy so compelling. Plus you get to tick the obligatory Canalettos off your to-do-list.

And then, back to Ca’di Dio to catch a water taxi from the hotel’s private jetty direct to the airport. Whip in hand, priceless antique in my pocket — in my imagination at least — I was back in Indiana Jones mode as the sun set over the lagoon.​

Getting There

​Various airlines fly to Venice from the UK, including direct flights from London and Manchester from around £35 return.

Double rooms at Ca’ di Dio cost from around £400 per night B&B, while the Botanical Experience costs around £180 per person for a group of up to eight.

A private tour of the Venice ghetto is available from Lucia Bondetti for around £150, while group tours run on select dates. Book at Venice Walks and Tours

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Where to Explore the Jewish Heritage of Ferrara

Via Mazzini, the main thoroughfare of the former Jewish ghetto of Ferrara / Photo: Lorenzo Pegoraro via Dreamstime

To mark the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust, January 27, we take a stroll through Jewish Ferrara, a city with one of the longest existing Jewish communities in Italy. 

The Jewish community of Ferrara has existed since the Middle Ages; it was especially vibrant in the 15th and 16th centuries, when the Emilia-Romagna city was ruled by the powerful Este dynasty, who refused to confine Jews to a ghetto even as other Italian cities were doing so. 

Its status however rapidly deteriorated from 1598, when the Este moved to Modena and the city came under papal control. The Jewish settlement, spread over three streets forming a triangle near the Cathedral, became a ghetto in 1627. The ghetto lasted until the period of the Italian unification in 1859, except for a few years under Napoleon and during the 1848 revolution.

Today, you can explore the Jewish history of Ferrara by starting at MEIS — the National Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah, a museum that documents the history of Jews in Italy from the Roman Empire through the Holocaust. Ferrara was chosen as the museum's location right because Jews have continuously lived in the city since as early as the year 1227. 

After visiting the museum, the next stop on your Jewish tour of Ferrara should be the area of the former ghetto, around Via Mazzini, Via Vittoria and Via Vignatagliata, a picturesque area of narrow cobblestone streets and terracotta buildings, typical of Ferrara.

Via Mazzini was the main street of the ancient ghetto, where Jewish-owned shops were concentrated. The buildings have retained their original structure. At Via Mazzini no. 95 is the Synagogue built in 1485. Except for the commemorative plaques on the facade, the building looks like the surrounding houses. 

The charming Via Vittoria has small buildings, internal courtyards and picturesque balconies; mentioned in the novel “The Garden of the Finzi-Contini” by Italian novelist Giorgio Bassani, it crosses the residential area of the Jewish ghetto.

On Via Vignatagliata an inscription indicates the small school that welcomed Jewish students after 1938. The houses are simple and lean against each other.

In front of the Cathedral in the heart of Ferrara is the Colonna di Borso d’Este, also known as the Jewish column; it is largely composed of layers of tombstones from ancient Jewish cemeteries.

Finally, the Jewish Cemetery, located within the walls bordering the Christian cemetery of the Certosa, is accessed from Via delle Vigne and is set in a large garden.

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The Centuries-Old History of Venice’s Jewish Ghetto

A look back on the 500-year history and intellectual life of one of the world’s oldest Jewish quarters

Simon Worrall; Photographs by Ziyah Gafić

In March 2016 the Jewish Ghetto in Venice will celebrate its 500th anniversary with exhibitions, lectures, and the first ever production of Shakespeare’s  Merchant of Venice  in the Ghetto’s main square. Shaul Bassi, a Venetian Jewish scholar and writer, is one of the driving forces behind  VeniceGhetto500 ,  a joint project between the Jewish community and the city of Venice. Speaking from the island of Crete, he explains how the world’s first “skyscrapers” were built in the Ghetto; how a young Jewish poetess presided over one of the first literary salons; and why he dreams of a multicultural future that would restore the Ghetto to the heart of Venetian life again.

Venice’s Jewish Ghetto was one of the first in the world. Tell us about its history and how the geography of the city shaped its architecture.

The first Jewish ghetto was in Frankfurt, Germany. But the Venetian Ghetto was so unique in its urban shape that it became the model for all subsequent Jewish quarters. The word “ghetto” actually originated in Venice, from the copper foundry that existed here before the arrival of the Jews, which was known as the  ghèto.

The Jews had been working in the city for centuries, but it was the first time that they were allowed to have their own quarter. By that time’s standards it was a strong concession and was negotiated by the Jews themselves. After a heated debate, on March 29, the Senate proclaimed this area as the site of the Ghetto. The decision had nothing to do with modern notions of tolerance. Up until then, individual [Jewish] merchants were allowed to operate in the city, but they could not have their permanent residence there. But by ghettoizing them, Venice simultaneously included and excluded the Jews. In order to distinguish them from the Christians, they had to wear certain insignia, typically a yellow hat or a yellow badge, the exception being Jewish doctors, who were in high demand and were allowed to wear black hats. At night the gates to the Ghetto were closed, so it would become a kind of prison. But the Jews felt stable enough that, 12 years into the existence of the place, they started establishing their synagogues and congregations. The area was so small, though, that when the community started growing, the only space was upward. You could call it the world’s first vertical city.

The Jews who settled in the Ghetto came from all over Europe: Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal. So it became a very cosmopolitan community. That mixture, and the interaction with other communities and intellectuals in Venice, made the Ghetto a cultural hub. Nearly one-third of all Hebrew books printed in Europe before 1650 were made in Venice.

Tell us about the poetess Sara Copio Sullam and the role the Ghetto in Venice played in European literature.

Sara Copio Sullam was the daughter of a wealthy Sephardic merchant. At a very young age, she became a published poet. She also started a literary salon, where she hosted Christians and Jews. This amazing woman was then silenced in the most terrible way: She was accused of denying the immortality of the soul, which was a heretical view for both Jews and Christians. The one published book we have by her is a manifesto where she denies these accusations. She had a very sad life. She was robbed by her servants and marginalized socially. She was hundreds of years ahead of her time. So one of the things we are doing next year is celebrating her achievements by inviting poets to respond to her life and works.

We can’t talk about Venice and Jewish history without mentioning the name Shylock. What are the plans for staging The Merchant of Venice in the Ghetto next year?

We’re trying to bring Shylock back by organizing the first ever performance of The Merchant of Venice in the Ghetto next year. Shylock is the most notorious Venetian Jew. But he never existed. He is a kind of ghost that haunts the place. So we’re trying to explore the myth of Shylock and the reality of the Ghetto. I don’t think that Shakespeare ever visited Venice or the Ghetto before the publication of the play in the First Quarto, in 1600. But news of the place must have reached him. The relationship between Shylock and the other characters is clearly based on a very intimate understanding of the new social configurations created by the Ghetto.

As a city of merchants and dealmakers, was Venice less hostile, less anti-Semitic to Jewish moneylending than other European cities?

The fact that Venice accepted the Jews, even if it was by ghettoizing them, made it, by definition, more open and less anti-Semitic than many other countries. England, for example, would not allow Jews on its territory at the time. Venice had a very pragmatic approach that allowed it to prosper by accepting, within certain limits, merchants from all over the world, even including Turks from the Ottoman Empire, which was Venice’s enemy. This eventually created mutual understanding and tolerance. In that sense, Venice was a multiethnic city ahead of London and many others.

One of the most interesting descriptions of the Ghetto was by the 19th-century American traveler William Dean Howells. What light does it shed on the changing face of the Ghetto and non-Jewish perceptions?

The first English travelers to Venice in the 17th century made a point of visiting the Ghetto. But when the grand tour becomes popular, in the late 18th century, the Ghetto completely disappears from view. Famous writers, like Henry James or John Ruskin, don’t even mention it. The one exception is Howells, who writes about the Ghetto in his book  Venetian Life.  He comes here when the Ghetto has already been dismantled. Napoleon has burned the gates; the Jews have been set free. The more affluent Jews cannot wait to get away from the Ghetto and buy the abandoned palazzi that the Venetian aristocracy can no longer afford. The people who remain are poor, working-class Jews. So the place Howells sees is anything  but  interesting.

How did the Holocaust affect the Ghetto—and the identity of Italy’s Jewish population?

When people visit the Ghetto today, they see two Holocaust memorials. Some people even think the Ghetto was created during the Second World War! The Holocaust did have a huge impact on the Jewish population. Unlike in other places, the Jews in Italy felt totally integrated into the fabric of Italian society. In 1938, when the Fascist Party, which some of them had even joined, declared them a different race, they were devastated. In 1943, the Fascists and Nazis started rounding up and deporting the Jews. But the people they found were either the very elderly, the sick, or very poor Jews who had no means of escaping. Almost 250 people were deported to Auschwitz. Eight of them returned.

Today the Ghetto is a popular tourist site. But, as you say, “its success is in inverse proportion to the … decline of the Jewish community.” Explain this paradox.

Venice has never had so many tourists and so few residents. In the past 30 years, the monopoly of mass tourism as the prime economic force in the city has pushed out half the population. In that sense the Jews are no different from others. Today the Ghetto is one of the most popular tourist destinations, with nearly a hundred thousand admissions to the synagogue and Jewish Museum per year. But it is the community that makes the Ghetto a living space, not a dead space. Less than 500 people actually live here, including the ultra-Orthodox Lubavitchers. They market themselves as the real Jews of Venice. But they only arrived 25 years ago. Mostly from Brooklyn! [Laughs]

You are at the center of the 500th-anniversary celebrations of the Ghetto, which will take place next year. Give us a sneak preview.

There will be events throughout the year, starting with the opening ceremony on the 29th of March 2016, at the famous Teatro La Fenice Opera House. From April to November, there will be concerts and lectures, and from June a major historical exhibition at the Doges’ Palace: “Venice, the Jews and Europe: 1516-2016.” Then, on the 26th of July, we will have the premiere of  The Merchant of Venice,  an English-language production with an international cast—a truly interesting experiment with the play being performed not in the theater but in the Ghetto’s main square itself.

You write that “instead of a mass tourism basking in melancholic fantasies of dead Jews, I dream of a new cultural traffic.” What is your vision for the future of Venice’s Ghetto?

“Ghetto” is a word with very negative connotations. There is a risk that Jewish visitors will see it primarily as an example of one of the many places in Europe where Jewish civilization was almost annihilated. I may sound harsh, but it could be said that people like the Jews when they are dead, but not when they are alive. The antidote, in my humble opinion, is to not only observe the past but to celebrate our culture in the present. This could be religious culture but also Jewish art and literature. Why could the Ghetto not become the site of an international center for Jewish culture? We also need more interaction between visitors and locals, so that people who come to the Ghetto experience a more authentic type of tourism. I think that is the secret to rethinking this highly symbolic space. The anniversary is not a point of arrival. It’s a point of departure.

Read more from the  Venice Issue of the Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly .

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Simon Worrall | READ MORE

Simon Worrall is a contributing writer for the Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly.

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Which European countries are best for Jews? A new study offers unexpected answers.

BUDAPEST ( JTA ) — Antisemitic sentiment is especially prevalent in Italy and Hungary, according to multiple surveys. But a first-of-its-kind index combining different measures of Jewish experience found that they are also the best countries in Europe for Jews to live in.

The index, unveiled Monday, is based on a study that combines polling data and policy information to create a single quality-of-life metric for Jews in the 12 European Union countries with sizable Jewish communities, according to Daniel Staetsky, a statistician with the London-based Institute for Jewish Policy Research who wrote the report for the European Jewish Association in Brussels.

“The goal with this report is to take the excellent data we already have about how Jews feel, about how prevalent antisemitism is, and combine it with government policy measurables,” Staetsky said during a conference held by the European Jewish Association in Budapest.

He said the results may challenge preconceptions about which EU countries are most hospitable to Jews. For example, Germany scored high when it came to government policies relating to Jews. But Jews there report a weak sense of security, leading to an overall middling score.

The index is primarily a tool “to demand concrete action from European leaders,” Rabbi Menachem Margolin, head of the European Jewish Association. “We welcome statements against antisemitism by European leaders. But more than statements is needed.”

The European Jewish Association will make individual recommendations to each country surveyed, Margolin added at the press event. It was part of a two-day event sponsored by multiple Jewish organizations, including the Consistoire in France, the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Israeli government, about how European Jewish communities can aid the one in Ukraine.

Titled “Europe and Jews, a country index of respect and tolerance towards Jews,” the study ranks the 12 countries surveyed as follows: Italy: 79, Hungary: 76, Denmark: 75, the United Kingdom: 75, Austria: 75, the Netherlands: 74, Sweden: 73, Germany: 72, Spain: 70, France: 68, Poland: 66, Belgium: 60.

To come up with the ranking, Staetsky gave each surveyed country grades on multiple subjects, including the Jewish sense of security, public attitudes to Jews and the number of Jews who said they’d expereinced antisemitism. The grades were based on major opinion polls in recent years, including those conducted by the Action and Protection League, a group that monitors hate crimes against Jews in several European countries, and the European Union’s Fundamental Rights Agency.

The study combined those scores with scores the author gave to countries’ government policies, including their funding for Jewish communities, whether they had adopted a definition of antisemitism, and the status of Holocaust education and freedom of worship.

Under that scoring system, Germany received an overall score of 72 despite having the best score (89) on government performance on issues related to Jews and a solid 92 when it came to the prevalence of antisemitism. But a relatively low score on Jewish sense of security (46) hurt its overall score, among other factors.

In the case of Hungary, “the score it received reflects the reality on the ground,” according to Shlomo Koves, the head of the Chabad-affiliated EMIH umbrella group of Jewish communities in Hungary. “Jews can walk around here, go to synagogue, without the slightest fear of harassment,” he said.

But the prevalence of antisemitic sentiments in Hungarian society — an Anti-Defamation League survey from 2015 found that about 30% of the population hold them — “shows there is work to be done here, too, in education and outreach,” Koves said.

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Venice’s Jewish Ghetto and Its Secret Synagogues

Brandon Shaw Last Updated: November 18, 2022

In the 16th century, the Jewish population of Venice was forced to live in the world’s first ghetto. In the face of severe discrimination, they built their synagogues in secret. Today, these places of worship are some of the most beautiful and best-kept secrets of Venice. Find out about the secret synagogues of the Jewish Ghetto in Venice.

Pro Tip:  It’s easier to organize your trip when you have all your resources in one place. Create a browser folder and bookmark this post along with our dedicated guide to planning your visit to Venice —it has everything you need. Also, check out our article on the best Venice tours and great places to eat .

The Jewish Ghetto in Venice

Hidden behind nondescript facades and unmarked doors lie the richly decorated and beautifully designed synagogues of Venice’s Jewish Ghetto. Found in the northern sestiere of Cannaregio, these places of worship represent the mix of ethnic and cultural identities of Venetian Jews. 

New rules restricted their religious expression to a specific section of Venice, forcing the founders of these synagogues to be creative. As such, these beautiful buildings have become hidden gems, accessible only to those in the know. After this article, you can count yourself among them.

Word Origin

When we hear the word “ghetto”, the majority of us picture a very squalid place. Usually, run-down places aren’t at the top of our list of places to visit. And this was true of the Jewish Ghetto in Rome for over 300 years. Yes, three centuries! What does the word “ghetto” mean to you? The word could derive from two possible meanings:

• Borghetto  – meaning small borough.
• Getto  – meaning foundry or factory.

Although spelled differently today, the second is most likely the origin. The Venetians created the first Jewish ghetto in 1516 on the site of a foundry in Venice. For more than 300 years, the conditions of both the Rome Jewish Ghetto and the Venice Ghetto were horrendous.

The living conditions were appalling and inhumane by today’s standards. Now, however, it’s a very different story. Real estate values in these areas have shot through the roof.

5 Secret Synagogues of the Venice Jewish Ghetto

Schola grande tedesca.

La Schola Grande Tedesca, or the Great German Synagogue, was built in 1528. It was the first synagogue in the ghetto, tucked in the attic area of what is now the Jewish Museum of Venice. 

As you pass through the five stone arches that define the space, you will notice the beautiful marble walls surrounding the prayer room. However, the material on the walls is actually plaster or m armorino .

In a period of severe discrimination, marble was too precious for use in a synagogue. Yet, in another example of architectural ingenuity, these panels look nearly indistinguishable from real marble.

Address : Campo di Ghetto Nuovo, 2902/b

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Schola Canton

La Schola Canton is the second-oldest synagogue in Venice, established in 1531. The name refers to the location of the synagogue: the southern canton or corner of the Campo di Ghetto Nuovo. 

French Ashkenazi Jews founded this synagogue. It is notable for the eight gilded panels lining the walls of the space. Each one illustrates an episode in the Jewish Exodus story, which is a rarity in religions generally averse to pictorial representation. 

There is also a noted baroque influence in the architecture . This is clearly visible in the design of the ark. Intricately carved out of gold and with its broken pediment, it is characteristic of the period. 

Address : C. de l’Orto, 1191

Schola Italiana

The Italian Synagogue, established in 1575, traditionally serviced the poorer Italian Jews. This may explain its simple style compared to other places of worship. Instead of the more prevalent Ashkenazic or Sephardic doctrines, the Italian Jews followed the Italkim liturgy, which is a specifically Italian-Jewish rite. 

La Schola Italiana has a much smaller prayer space than the other synagogues and lacks the gilded baroque style of its contemporaries. Instead, a modest entryway marked by four white pillars leads you to an austere prayer room, naturally lit by the five tall windows facing out to the campo outside. 

They decorated much of the room, including the ark, in dark wood and stone. What jumps out at you are the brass inscriptions in white wood on the walls. It’s a simple and striking contrast to the golden calligraphy of the other synagogues on this list. 

Address : Cl. Ghetto Vecchio, 2883

Schola Levantina

This is one of the few Venetian synagogues to be built on the ground floor and is also one of the best preserved. In 1541, this synagogue was founded by wealthy Marranos. The Marranos were Jews that had nominally converted to Christianity to avoid persecution during the 15th-century Spanish Inquisition and moved to Italy to practice their religion openly.  

Restored by Italian architect Baldassare Longhena in the 17th century, this synagogue shows clear baroque influences. There are deep red curtains surrounding the space and a large chandelier at its center. Designed by master woodcarver Andrea Brustolon in the 18th century, a pair of dark wood staircases lead up to the pulpit. 

Address : Cl. Ghetto Vecchio, 1154

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Schola Spagnola

Along with the Levantine Synagogue, La Schola Spagnola is one of the few Venetian synagogues still operating today. This is the largest of the Venetian synagogues, but it is also one of the most well-hidden. It is located up three flights of stairs in an unassuming building on the Campiello delle Scuolo in central Cannaregio.

With enough room to fit three large chandeliers and four rows of benches, the worship space is notable for its beautifully tiled floors and blue painted and ivory dome overlooking the pulpit. High above the space, the Women’s Gallery gives an extraordinary view of a tucked-away temple. 

Address : Cl. Ghetto Vecchio, 1147

How To Visit the Secret Synagogues

If you’d like to tour all five of these synagogues, your only option is to go through the Jewish Museum in Venice. When visiting, you will likely be asked to leave your bags and any electronic devices outside the spaces of worship. Also, keep in mind that Jewish holidays may impact the scheduling of tours, particularly at the Spanish and Levantine synagogues where services are still held. 

If exploring the hidden gems of Venice piques your interest, check out our Hidden Venice Tour . This exclusive tour takes you through hidden canals and secret gardens to the heart of Cannaregio and the Jewish Ghetto. 

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Miami Dolphins | Dolphins draft Penn State edge rusher Chop…

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Miami dolphins | dolphins draft penn state edge rusher chop robinson with first opening-round pick in three years.

MIAMI GARDENS — Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel has said edge rusher is his favorite position in football, despite having an offensive background.

True to form then, the Dolphins selected Penn State edge defender Chop Robinson with the No. 21 pick in Thursday’s first round of the NFL draft.

“I’m honestly just blessed and happy to be a Dolphin,” Robinson said in a web conference call with reporters shortly after being picked, adding he had plenty of contact with the organization between the NFL scouting combine and his pro day.

It was the first time the Dolphins picked in the draft’s opening round in three years, the last being Jaelan Phillips, the former Miami Hurricane edge rusher who was the Dolphins’ selection with the No. 18 pick in 2021 after they picked wide receiver Jaylen Waddle at 6 that year. So, the last two first-round picks for the Miami Dolphins have now been pass rushers.

“He was a player that we kind of identified early that we liked,” general manager Chris Grier said late Thursday night . “He was someone that we felt could impact our team and had some traits we liked, both as a person and a player.

“He plays hard. He plays his ass off, and that’s what we like. And then, obviously, the athletic traits and what he has. You see a first-step quickness, the explosion, his ability to bend.”

Added McDaniel: “If you have a player contributing in pass rush, those are things that you feel very fortunate to not pass up. As passing games become more and more of a focus, those players are a really big part of the driving force of your defense.”

With Phillips (Achilles) and fellow outside linebacker Bradley Chubb (knee) rehabbing from season-ending injuries this offseason, Robinson gives Miami a security blanket at the position if either does not quite return to form or is delayed in recovery . He can also work into a pass-rushing rotation with Phillips, Chubb and veteran signing Shaquil Barrett when all are healthy.

“I feel like that’s going to be a great situation for me,” said Robinson, who added he has never been to Miami before, “coming in and learning from those guys, competing every day, being able to take things from them and put it into my game.”

The Dolphins lost outside linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel in free agency to the Minnesota Vikings this offseason, so there was already a void, and the team likely wanted to stock up on edge rushers after having so many injuries at the position last season.

Robinson, who is 6 foot 3, 254 pounds, was the draft’s fourth edge defender taken behind Laiatu Latu, Dallas Turner and Jared Verse. The Dolphins got the fifth defensive player selected in the draft, benefiting from the first 14 picks going to offense, with six of the first 12 being quarterbacks.

Robinson is an athletic, quick player at his size, running a 4.48-second 40-yard dash at the NFL combine. He had four sacks last season for the Nittany Lions and 5 1/2 in 2022.

“For us, it’s an important part, but we always talk about the ability to rush the passer,” Grier said about Robinson’s sack numbers that don’t exactly jump off the page. “Working the analytics, watching him, what he does, what he contributes … we think a lot of his traits and things he does on film translate.”

Robinson said he feels improving his hand placement will help him increase his sack numbers as a pro.

Putting together a high pressure rate, though, Robinson has drawn comparisons to another standout Penn State pass rusher, Micah Parsons, for his athleticism.

“Robinson might not be as fast as Parsons, but he’s close,” wrote NFL.com draft analyst Lance Zierlein in a scouting report. “He’s ultra-twitchy with the explosiveness to get on top of blockers and overwhelm them in an instant. However, he will need to level up his hand skills and attack angles to reach his potential against NFL tackles. Robinson’s electric athletic traits alone should give him a floor as a good NFL starter.”

Last season, Robinson was carted off the field with an undisclosed injury from a helmet-to-helmet collision with an offensive lineman against Ohio State in October.

Robinson’s name, Chop, comes from the nickname “Pork Chop” because he was 11 pounds at birth. With a first name of Demeioun, the nickname was later shortened to “Chop.”

With the pick, Miami passed up the opportunity to take one of several offensive linemen available: Duke’s Graham Barton, Oregon center Jackson Powers-Johnson or Oklahoma’s Tyler Guyton among them. They also could have taken the first cornerback of the draft with an array of talented defensive backs on the board or Illinois defensive tackle Jer’Zhan “Johnny” Newton.

Grier said Miami was active on the phones seeking trades throughout the first round, including trying to get back into the opening round for another player.

“There were a couple players at the end we were excited for,” Grier said, “so we were active in trying to get back in to get another one here in the late first.”

The Dolphins enter Friday with a second-round pick, No. 55 overall, as Rounds 2 and 3 of the draft take place, with the fourth through seventh rounds Saturday. Miami is currently slated to be without a third-round pick Friday, one that was stripped from the team for its tampering violation penalty handed down in August 2022, along with a first-rounder last year.

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Why Is This Seder Unlike All Other Seders?

The dinner parties held by Shtick, a pop-up series celebrating Jewish culture, draw out New York’s influencers, artists, designers and celebrities.

By Joseph Bernstein

Why was this Seder different from all other Seders?

Start with the setup: a glittering table set for 100, running the length of a drafty warehouse in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn. And it was not just any old warehouse; this is where Joyva, the stalwart kosher candy company, stores its stacks of halvah, a fudgelike sesame confection.

Then there were the guests: not your typical Passover assortment of Tisches, Kaplans and Rubensteins. Sitting elbow to elbow at the table, waiting to snap matzo, were dozens of New York influencers, artists, designers, creative directors, chefs and fashionistas. If the prophet Elijah showed up midway through the meal, his seatmates would have surely asked for his Instagram handle.

Also unlike most seders, this one, on Thursday night (before the start of the holiday), featured a D.J. with face tattoos who blasted a Hot 97 -style air horn at intervals throughout the evening.

It was all the doing of Shtick, a pop-up dinner party series around the city that celebrates Jewish culture. The events are mostly invite-only. Guests at the Seder and past parties have included Brett Gelman, the actor; Samantha Ronson, the D.J.; Richard Kind, the actor; Chi Ossé, the Brooklyn city councilman; and the actor David Schwimmer.

Shtick is more or less a one-woman project, run by Jacqueline Lobel, a freelance television producer and director whose aim, she said, is to organize “Jewish communal dining experiences that are sexy.”

The Seder is a ritual meal that retells the biblical story of the Israelites’ bondage and salvation. So what exactly does a sexy one look like?

It began with a cocktail hour on the Joyva factory floor, where guests wearing sanitary smocks and hairnets shuffled in Bode Astro Grabbers and Tory Burch flats past steaming vats of semiliquid halvah and hulking machines enrobing candy rings in chocolate.

Then, a young, stylish rabbi named Arielle Stein — whom several guests referred to as “the hot rabbi” — led a service from a custom Haggadah that characterized Passover as “the Super Bowl of Jewish holidays” and featured images of Fran Drescher, Gene Simmons (Jewish!) and Larry David.

The ceremonial ingredients were served not off large plates, but out of vintage champagne coupes. Matzo ball soup came in those blue and white paper coffee cups with Hellenic lettering.

A photographer and a videographer sidestepped around the giant table, and despite the rabbi’s request for phones to be put away, phones were not put away. The meal was intended to be eaten; the Seder was intended for social media consumption.

“Every Shtick dinner is what I wished my bat mitzvah looked like,” said Ms. Lobel, 34, who was wearing a sheer, pink tulle dress by the designer Batsheva Hay, who herself was a guest at the Seder.

Much like a certain kind of bat mitzvah, the night had a theme: “Secret Soviet Seder,” in honor of the refuseniks, Soviet Jews in the 1970s who were discriminated against for their religious practice and weren’t allowed to emigrate, as they wanted, to the United States or Israel. Guests didn’t receive the location of the Seder until 48 hours beforehand. And in between the cocktail hour and the meal, there was a video art installation about Soviet Jews.

Ms. Lobel was born to modern Orthodox parents in Brooklyn. When she was 5, her father came out as gay, and his community ostracized him. Ms. Lobel stayed in Jewish school through high school, but never felt as if she fit in, she said.

But later, as an adult, Ms. Lobel felt drawn back to her Jewish heritage, and it bothered her that there didn’t seem to be many Jewish dining experiences outside delis and bagel shops. So Ms. Lobel set out to design a version of Jewish culture that she wished she had growing up.

After a few fits and starts, she introduced the current iteration of Shtick in 2022 with a Hanukkah dinner at the historic Greek synagogue on Broome Street. Influential New Yorkers like the food writer Alison Roman and the jewelry designer Susan Korn were among the attendees.

Shtick is as much about the secular signifiers of New York Jewish culture — the Shtick Instagram account has posts devoted to Billy Joel and Barbra Streisand — as it is about any kind of dogmatic religious practice.

“I’ll quote Virgil Abloh,” Ms. Lobel said. “For me, Shtick is about having a mix of tourists and purists.”

In the Joyva factory, the latter did their best to guide the former. Aisha Rosenfeld, the head of human resources in North America for the designer Brunello Cucinelli, patiently demonstrated to her seatmate, a model and yoga teacher named Eden Amare, how to dip her pinkie in red wine and tap out on her plate the 10 drops that symbolize the 10 plagues God brought against the Egyptians. Helaina Ferraioli, who works at the vintage shop where Ms. Lobel sourced many of the table settings, haltingly pieced together a sandwich of matzo and charoset, a sweet slaw made of apples, walnuts and cinnamon.

Typically, a Seder concludes with the chanting of “L’Shana Haba’ah B’Yerushalayim,” which means “Next Year in Jerusalem” — historically, an expression of the wish for the end of Jewish exile. Today, the phrase takes on a particularly loaded significance as people come together for the first Passover since the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas that led to the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.

But though the Haggadah included an entry explaining the expression, the Seder itself never got around to it. After the main meal, guests were socializing too much to corral back to the table.

Indeed, the Shtick Seder was relatively light on references to the Jewish state — despite being funded, in part, by the Fooksman Family Foundation, a California nonprofit whose mission is “to help shape the future of Israel, strengthen Jewish continuity, and promote Jewish life and culture in a post-exile era.”

“It’s always the elephant in the room,” said Ms. Stein, the rabbi. “But I don’t think it needs to be central to every event.”

The war hovered at the edges. One guest, Vanessa Bronfman, was wearing an oversize dog tag that read, “Bring Them Home,” referring to the remaining Israeli hostages being held in Gaza. Ms. Bronfman had connected with Ms. Lobel at a discussion group at the New York home of her younger sister, Hannah Bronfman, the influencer. Ms. Lobel said that since Oct. 7 she had been “inundated” with requests to attend her events, such is the desire among Jews to reconnect with Jewish ritual.

During the Seder, Luba Proger, an artist who was born in the Soviet Union, in modern day Russia, gave a toast in which she encouraged the audience not to hide their support for Israel, nor their Jewish identities.

“I invite you to be proud,” she said.

Then, she seemed to reconsider — perhaps taking into account the spectrum of opinions in the room.

“Well, I invite myself to be proud; you can do whatever you want,” she said, to nervous laughter.

On the way out of the warehouse, guests filed past stacks of Jell Rings and marshmallow twists, as well as a taupe pyramid made entirely of halvah. Outside, in the moments before rideshares arrived, the sounds of noshing could be heard.

Joseph Bernstein is a Times reporter who writes feature stories for the Styles section. More about Joseph Bernstein

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Israel strikes Iran with a missile, U.S. officials say, as Tehran downplays Netanyahu's apparent retaliation

Updated on: April 19, 2024 / 7:45 PM EDT / CBS/AP

Two U.S. officials told CBS News on Thursday night that an Israeli missile had struck Iran. The strike came less than a week after Iran's unprecedented retaliatory  drone and missile attack on Israel, to which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had vowed to respond.

The U.S. officials did not provide any information about the location or extent of the Israeli strike, and the Israel Defense Forces would not comment on the attack when asked by CBS News.

Iran's state-run IRNA news agency said air defense batteries fired across several provinces, but it didn't elaborate on why the batteries had fired. Iranians did report hearing the sound of explosions in several locations, but there was no urgent meeting called of Iran's ruling High National Council, state television said, and it appeared the Iranian government was trying to downplay the impact of the Israeli attack.

State media and Iranian sources speaking with various news outlets mentioned only small drones flying around a couple sites in the country, without any reference to a missile strike. There were no immediate reports of damage.

Iran's President, Ebrahim Raisi, speaking during a visit on Friday to the city of Damghan, east of Tehran and hundreds of miles north of Isfahan, didn't even reference the Israeli strike. Instead, he spoke of Iran's assault a week earlier against Israel, which he called "necessary, obligatory" and a "sign of the power of the Islamic republic and its armed forces." 

A senior Israeli official told The Washington Post the Israeli counterattack "was intended to signal to Iran that Israel can attack its territory." 

The Reuters news agency cited an unnamed Iranian official as saying there were no plans in Tehran to respond to the Israeli retaliation. 

"I think it's a measured response," Efraim Halevi, an Israeli intelligence expert and former director of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, told CBS News on Friday. "It is in no way proportionate to the attack we had to deal with a couple of days ago, but it is enough to send the message to the leadership in Iran."

Dubai-based airlines Emirates and FlyDubai began diverting flights around western Iran early Friday morning, after news of the Israeli strike. The carriers offered no explanation, though local warnings to aviators suggested the airspace may have been closed.

Iran announced that it had grounded commercial flights in Tehran and across areas of its western and central regions, but state television later said normal flight operations had resumed.

"No damage to Iran's nuclear sites"

IRNA said Iranian air defenses had fired at a major air base in the city of Isfahan, which has long been home to Iran's fleet of American-made F-14 Tomcat fighter jets, which were purchased before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Isfahan is also home to several sites associated with Iran's alleged nuclear program, including its underground Natanz enrichment site, which has been repeatedly targeted by suspected Israeli attacks .

Iran's state media, however, denied any attack on the country's nuclear facilities and described all sites as "fully safe." 

The U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency also said it could "confirm that there is no damage to Iran's nuclear sites."

Iran denies having a nuclear weapons program and insists all its enrichment work is for civilian purposes, but it has continued enriching uranium and plutonium to higher levels of purity, pushing it closer to the theoretical ability to produce a nuclear weapon. Israel has vowed never to allow Iran to obtain that capacity.

State television said three small drones were shot down in an area east of Isfahan, and the network ran what it said were live pictures showing calm, normal conditions in Isfahan.

Three Iranian officials told The New York Times the attack on the air base included small drones that may have been launched from inside Iran, saying radar systems had not detect any unidentified aircraft in Iranian airspace.  

Reaction to Israel's strike on Iran

"No one wants a war with Iran at the moment," Natan Eshel, a close associate and former chief of staff of Netanyahu's, said in a statement shared Friday by the prime minister's Likud party. "We have proven to them that we can penetrate and damage their domain and they have not succeeded in ours. The messages are more important than the bickering. We currently have more important tasks as well in Gaza and in Lebanon, the people are blessed to have a leader like Netanyahu."

One of the most hard-line members of Netanyahu's cabinet, however, far-right politician and current National Security Minister  Itamar Ben-Gvir , posted a one word message on social media as news of the strike on Iran emerged, saying simply: "Lame." 

Netanyahu had been under opposing pressures from the U.S., which had sought a calibrated response based on the minimal impact of the Iranian missile and drone barrage, and ultranationalist members of his government such as Ben-Gvir who have long advocated for tough military action against Iran. 

Oman, which often acts as an intermediary between Tehran and the West, condemned the "Israeli attack" on Friday, according to French news agency AFP.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying it was "becoming increasingly evident that the tensions that were initially caused by Israel's illegal attack on the Iranian Embassy in Damascus risk turning into a permanent conflict," and urging "all parties to refrain from steps that could lead to a wider conflict." 

Turkey said the international community's priority "should be to stop the massacre in Gaza and to ensure lasting peace in our region by establishing a Palestinian state."

Speaking as he hosted a meeting of his fellow G7 foreign ministers, including U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Italy's top diplomat Antonio Tajani told journalists on Friday that the U.S. had been informed of Israel's military action at "the last minute, but there was no involvement on the part of the United States — it was simply information that was provided."

Blinken, speaking later, was pressed to confirm the Israeli strike but would say only that the U.S. was "not involved in any offensive operation."  

Tajani said he believed "the small-scale of the event," referring to Israel's retaliation, was "also the result of the efforts of the G7," which along with the U.S. had urged Netanyahu to carry out a measured response.   

In a joint statement, the G7 foreign ministers urged Israel and Iran to avoid any further escalation.

Reports of strikes in Syria and Iraq

Around the time that the sound of explosions were heard in Iran, Syria's state-run SANA news agency cited a military official as saying Israel had carried out a missile strike targeting an air defense unit in the country's south, causing material damage.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based opposition war monitoring organization, said the strike hit a military radar installation. It wasn't clear if there were casualties, the Observatory said. Israel has carried out a number of strikes inside Syria in recent years, often targeting cites associated with Iran-backed groups.

Meanwhile in Iraq, where a number of Iranian-backed militias are based, residents of Baghdad reported hearing explosion sounds, but the source of the noises wasn't immediately clear. 

The background to the Israeli strike

Iran last weekend launched an unprecedented retaliatory strike against Israel in response to a deadly attack on an Iranian consulate in Syria that killed seven officers, including two generals, from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Iran's attack on Israel included 170 drones, over 30 cruise missiles and 120 ballistic missiles, according to the IDF and U.S. officials. None of the drones crossed into Israeli territory before they were shot down by Israel and its allies, including the U.S., the IDF said. 

Five of the ballistic missiles struck Israel, with four of them hitting Israel's Nevatim Air Base, where Israeli F-35s are based, U.S. officials told CBS News. The officials believe the base was likely Iran's primary target, as the strike against the consulate in Syria is believed to have been carried out by an F-35.

The U.S. and other Israeli allies had urged Netanyahu to exercise restraint with any response to the Iranian attack, and U.S. officials had said the U.S. would not participate in an Israeli retaliation.

In the aftermath of Iran's attack, which the IDF said caused "very little damage," President Biden pressed the Israeli prime minister, "to think about what that success says all by itself to the rest of the region," according to National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby.

— Margaret Brennan, James LaPorta, David Martin, Michal Ben-Gal, Olivia Gazis, Haley Ott, Tucker Reals and Brian Dakss contributed reporting.

• Missile Launch
• Middle East

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