Fiamma Nirenstein

Fiamma Nirenstein

Fiamma Nirenstein (Florence, 18 December 1945) is an Italian politician, journalist and author. She is a member of Silvio Berlusconi's conservative coalition government (first elected in April 2008)^[1] and is Vice-president of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Italian Chamber of Deputies. As a journalist and author the underlying idea that runs through all Fiamma Nirenstein's work is the connection between totalitarianism, terrorism, antisemitism and hatred of Israel.^{[citation needed]}

Nirenstein was born in Florence, Italy and lives part of the year in Gilo, an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied East Jerusalem. She is married to Israeli news photographer Ofer Eshed. She specializes in writing on terrorism, the Arab-Israeli conflict, antisemitism and democracy in the Middle East. Nirenstein teaches Middle East History at Luiss University in Rome. She is a member of the Global Forum against Antisemitism instituted by Nathan Sharansky. She is a member of the board of the Italian Foundation Magna Carta and a fellow of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and of the Hudson Institute, Washington. In addition, she is a member of the International Advisory Board of NGO Monitor^[2]

She was director of the Italian Institute of Culture (Istituto Italiano di Cultura) in Tel Aviv in '93 and '94. She has introduced and written prefaces for translations of the works of Bernard Lewis, Nathan Sharansky, and Ruthie Bloom in Italy.

Career

She graduated from the University of Florence, where she majored in modern history. Her journalism career began in 1977. Nirenstein predominantly writes about Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict, but also about European history, the Holocaust, antisemitism and monotheism. She has written for Commentary, La Stampa and Panorama. Today, she is a columnist and features writer for Paolo Berlusconi's right-wing Il Giornale.^[1]

These topics initially captured her interest when she was travelling around the world as a foreign-affairs columnist and correspondent for major magazines, including (Panorama; L'Espresso and Epoca). Nirenstein has written nine books, most recently Israele Siamo Noi (Israel is Us: March 2007). Nirenstein has been awarded 16 journalistic and literary prizes. Her two books L'abbandono, ('The abandonment, how the West betrayed the Jews', and 'The liberal anti-Semite') have been combined and translated into English under the title 'Terror, the new anti-Semitism and the war against the West'.^[3]

Nirenstein contributed and contributes to the New York Sun, Commentary Magazine, and the magazine Moment. Her writings are collected in four American anthologies, and she is quoted at length in 'Bias' by Bernard Goldberg^[4] to exemplify quality writing on the subject of terrorism. The day after 9/11, the Wall Street Journal quoted an article she wrote for Commentary Magazine to help clarify the historical background of the incident.

Fiamma Nirenstein has made several documentaries for Italian TV. Her work Settlers, addresses the disengagement from Gaza from the perspective of the Israelis involved. She is currently preparing a film about Israel and the threat she feels is posed by Iran. She is frequently interviewed by the Italian media, and has a weekly radio program. In 2006, she conceived and conducted 'Ore diciotto/Mondo', a program about foreign affairs on the public channel RAI 2. Her career as a journalist includes numerous interviews with world leaders and political figureheads, including Rajiv Gandhi, Deng Xiaoping, members of the Eastern bloc resistance, leaders of the 1980s-era Soviet Union, and key figures of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including Arafat and Sharon. She is well known in Italy for her opinions on anti-Semitism, anti-israelianism and the Left. She was an official speaker at the OCSE Berlin forum on Anti-Semitism, as well as at the October 31, 2004 Boston Conference on 'Anti-Semitism, the Press and Europe'. At a symposium of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in June 2006, she gave a lecture on 'Multiculturalism, the Left and Anti-Semitism' .

Nirenstein is Jewish, and is moving to Israel in 2013.^[5]

Notable views

'every Jew in the world is an Israeli even if he's not aware of it. Anyone who doesn't know it is making a big mistake.' ^[6]

'morally speaking, there mustn't be negotiations with Hamas, which thinks that Jews are the sons of monkeys and pigs. You can't negotiate with cannibals, who eat human beings.'^[6]

Books by Fiamma Nirenstein

• Israele Siamo Noi (2007) On the State of Israel as archetype for a liberal democracy at war with terror.
• La Sabbia di Gaza (2006) On the Israeli disengagement from Gaza.
• Terror: The New Anti-Semitism and the War Against the West (2005) An English-language selection of various articles.
• Gli Antisemiti Progressisti (2004) A look at the new anti-Semitism.
• Islam, la guerra e la speranza (2003) An interview with Bernard Lewis.
• L'Abbandono, come l'Occidente ha tradito gli ebrei (2002). A book that argues the West has betrayed the Jewish people.
• Un solo Dio, tre verità (2001).(One god, three truths)
• Come le cinque dita di una mano – una famiglia di ebrei da Firenze a Gerusalemme (1998) Written with her family.
• Israele: una pace in guerra (1996).)Israel, at peace in war)
• Il Razzista Democratico (1990).(The Democratic racist)

References

External links

• Official website
• Articles written on il Giornale (Italian)
• Most recent articles by Fiamma Nirenstein from New York Sun