“Jews to the ovens” and other neo-nazi abuse as Gaia Servadio book presentation is Zoombombed

An online presentation in Italy for the new novel by the Italian journalist-turned-fiction-writer Gaia Servadio, was suspended after being interrupted by antisemitic and neo-nazi abuse.

The presentation for the book, entitled Giudei (“Jews”), was sponsored by the magazine Carta Vetrata. Commenting on the abuse, Ms Servadio said that similar events had occurred during “other online presentations, even in England,” where she lives. Ms Servadio, whose father was Jewish, was born in 1938 and experienced antisemitism in Padua, where she grew up.

Abuse in the Zoombombing included comments such as “Jews to the ovens” and “f***ing Jews” as well as other expletives and belching noises.

She has lived in London for more than 50 years and was the mother-in-law of Boris Johnson when her daughter, Allegra Mostyn-Owen, was the British Prime Minister’s first wife. The novel tells the story of a turbulent century through the lives of two Jewish families.  

Campaign Against Antisemitism has previously reported on the phenomenon of ‘Zoom bombing’ and has urged communal institutions to take precautions to safeguard against antisemitic disruption of online events.

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