Milan’s Jewish community celebrates 2026 Olympic Games awarded to the city
“It is the appropriate result for a city that is increasingly open, welcoming and inclusive," read a letter sent to the mayor Giuseppe Sala.
By ROSSELLA TERCATINMayor of Milan Giuseppe Sala and delegation members representing Milano and Cortina celebrate after the cities won the bid to host the 2026 Winter Olympic Games during the 134th Session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), at the SwissTech Convention Centre, in Lausanne, Switzerland June 24(photo credit: PHILIPPE LOPEZ/POOL VIA REUTERS)
So far, 2019 has marked a tough year for Italy. The two parties that form the current governing coalition, the Five Star Movement and the League, have been increasingly at daggers drawn with each other, and the country has been facing growing tensions with the European Union and fellow member states over its economy and public debt.However, when the International Olympic Committee announced on Monday that Milan would host the 2026 Winter Olympic Games, together with the mountain town of Cortina D’Ampezzo, the whole country rejoiced, starting with Milano’s usually self-possessed mayor Giuseppe Sala.To Sala the Jewish Community of the Italian fashion capital sent a message of congratulations.“As Milan’s Jewish Community we are proud that our city will organize the Olympic Games in 2026,” the Community said in a letter.“It is the appropriate result for a city that is increasingly open, welcoming and inclusive. Because this is the message sent by the sport world, which is not only about records and performances but also about dialogue and brotherhood,” they added.The letter also recalled the Olympic Games held in Berlin in 1936 in Nazi Germany, and in Munich in 1972, when eleven members of the Israeli team were massacred by a Palestinian commando.“Luckily, today those Games feel very distant,” the letter read. “We are certain that Milan will be able to send a beautiful and positive message to the world.”
