A hotel reservation made by an Israeli couple was canceled at the Hotel Garni Ongaro in Selva di Cadore in northern Italy, with the establishment's manager accusing Israelis of "being responsible for genocide," The Associated Press quoted him as saying in a Friday report.
The couple had only just received the controversial message from the hotel a day before their departure at the beginning of the month, the report added. The reservation was initially made through the Booking.com online platform, that said that the hotel was removed from the platform.
The hotel manager's Facebook account has since been closed shortly after the manager offered Israeli tourists the chance to cancel their reservation free of charge, according to the Press.
Hotel Garni Ongaro in Italy has informed Israeli guests they are unwelcome simply because they are Israeli. I can only imagine the pain and sense of injustice I would feel if a hotel denied me a place to stay simply because of my identity, being Palestinian. This is… pic.twitter.com/RkZVru9dJQ
— Ihab Hassan (@IhabHassane) November 14, 2024
Jewish Community of Venice President Dario Calimani was quoted by the Press in response to the treatment by the hotel, saying that "when you don’t agree with what Israel does, you spread hatred against all Israelis." The Israeli Foreign Ministry has also been made aware of the incident, the report added.
Released Israeli hostages visited the Vatican around the same time
The same week as the hotel incident also saw a delegation of released hostages and family members of hostages departing to the Vatican to meet with the Pope as well as Italian officials to increase awareness internationally of the hostage crisis in Gaza and encourage Italian leadership to put more pressure on Hamas to release the remaining hostages.
Hostages within the delegation included Yelena Trufanova, who was released from Hamas captivity a year ago and whose son is still held captive. Footage of Trufanova’s son Alexander “Sasha” Troufanov was released Wednesday by Palestinian Islamic Jihad. This is the third video of him in captivity that was released.