President Meloni,

We deliberately address you in the manner you prefer, using the masculine form. But we trust that the woman, mother and Christian in you is— more and better than us— aware of the genocide taking place in Gaza, of the starving children used as a weapon of ethnic cleansing, of the greatest crime against humanity that, fortunately, we have the privilege of witnessing “live” and therefore the privilege of understanding, of rejecting with every fiber of our being. This open letter, written by women, mothers and non-mothers, workers and intellectuals, wealthy and poor, women of the right and left, of various religious denominations and atheists, teachers who have loved some students as their own children and healthcare professionals who know how much pain even a small problem can cause (let alone genocide!), women who study history, take care of homes, gardens, shops and offices, women who have brothers and children, grandchildren and mothers, women who write, think, love and understand when it is time to say enough is enough, this letter invites you to join us and say enough is enough, enough to the politics of interests that is destroying international law, our humanity and our future.

The UN has officially declared a state of famine in Gaza. For many of those who are starving, there is no longer any hope of salvation, even if aid were to arrive. The famine is the result of food being used as a weapon. It is the “final solution” to the Palestinian question, following the destruction of homes, schools, hospitals, drinking water and sewage systems, after the imprisonment, torture and unworthy jail conditions of 10,000 Palestinian hostages, imprisoned without trial or conviction, after the daily bombing of the shreds of Palestine for almost two years... some of it indiscriminate, some of it carefully targeted to kill health professionals and journalists, resistance fighters and politicians (especially the uncorrupted ones), and teachers, civil servants, artists and poets. In this dark moment in history, Italians back from their holidays and those who have skipped their holidays altogether return to their everyday problems and must add to them the cries of children dying of hunger and thirst, under bombs and from treatable diseases. Can you, President Meloni, hear these cries, read the lists of names and photographs of innocent children and their parents, teachers, friends...? Why is our government not doing anything truly effective? We do not talk about empty phrases that cost nothing and lead to nothing. We do not talk about the “recognition of the State of Palestine” which, it goes without saying, should have been done by Italy decades ago, as it has already been done by the vast majority of countries in the UN, and we hope Italy will do so in September. We talk about putting a firm and immediate stop to all relations—military, commercial, research and cultural—with the State of Israel. We talk about putting a stop to all automatic visas for Israeli citizens and demanding that visas be granted only after they have proven their non-involvement in the genocide. One day, soon, our children will ask, just as children in Germany asked after the Second World War: ‘Where were you when the genocide in Gaza took place? What did you do to stop it? Whose side were you on?’ We, the women who sign this open letter, will be able to talk about the crumbs we tried to contribute. But if your daughter asks you, President Meloni, whose side you were on, what will you tell her?

The truth is difficult to hide when the suffering is documented not only by the victims, but also by their killers. In Gaza, people are being killed even as they beg for a piece of bread, even as they are already starving in tents. You are surely aware of this, despite your heavy state commitments. It is your duty to know. So why empty words instead of concrete action? It is true that, by insisting on an absurd policy of war, rearmament and death, the European Union is dragging us into the abyss of economic and political crisis. But we are still one of the G7 countries. If you could wave a flag other than subservience to NATO, Italy would be with you, President Meloni... but instead, we wonder why you remain silent, why you are complicit in crime through inaction? You told us you were a subversive and rebellious underdog, you gave many people hope that you would be able to speak and act as a woman, a mother and a Christian. In Gaza and the West Bank, thousands of centuries-old olive trees are being bombed, cut down and even burned. Will you, the most powerful Christian woman Italy has ever had, be able to raise an olive branch to the sky after letting all this pass without an effective response?

We are writing to you with only a faint hope that this appeal may change something. But we must write to you, so that no one can say that we remained silent while around us everything sounds more and more like a military march towards the next war, probably the last one to which, if it had wanted to, Italy could have said NO. Is the “tax on our poverty”, the five per cent allocated to the US military-industrial complex, really all we have left? Italy knows the weight of suffering, it has always felt affinity with the Palestinian people, who face relentless injustice but remain steadfast in their dignity. We only have our words. You can act. Please do so, President Meloni, do it for the dignity and humanity of all of us, do it as soon as possible 

Per firmare la lettera aperta cliccare qui

The Italian original of this letter is here

Note 1: The original letter was sent to President Meloni on 31.08.25, with copies to  selected members of the Italian Senate, Chamber of Deputees and Commission of Foreign Affairs. The collection of signatures continues!

Note 2: Not all the people pictured in the photo (die-in for Gaza in Rome, June 2025) are aware of the letter and/or have signed it.