# Israeli Identity, Zionism, and Settler Culture in Italy’s Valsesia

- Original post: https://www.twitter.com/i/status/2120321884721983951
- Source account: [@mmemignon](https://x.com/mmemignon)
- Source language: English
- Duration: 2:29
- Published: 2026-11-11
- Canonical URL: https://www.translate.mom/transcript/Am1O4gaKDJbw/en/israeli-identity-zionism-and-settler-culture-in-italy-s-valsesia

## Transcript

[0:00](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/Am1O4gaKDJbw/en/israeli-identity-zionism-and-settler-culture-in-italy-s-valsesia) It's been a while, we say.

[0:06](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/Am1O4gaKDJbw/en/israeli-identity-zionism-and-settler-culture-in-italy-s-valsesia?t=6) There's this image that Israelis seem to have of themselves, that they're direct, they have chutzpah.

[0:15](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/Am1O4gaKDJbw/en/israeli-identity-zionism-and-settler-culture-in-italy-s-valsesia?t=15) Aggression being seen as confidence isn't accidental.

[0:23](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/Am1O4gaKDJbw/en/israeli-identity-zionism-and-settler-culture-in-italy-s-valsesia?t=23) For centuries in Europe, Jews were stereotyped as weak, pale, and frail.

[0:28](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/Am1O4gaKDJbw/en/israeli-identity-zionism-and-settler-culture-in-italy-s-valsesia?t=28) Early Zionists internalized that image, speaking with contempt about this old Jew, and calling instead for a new Jew, one of a muscular Judaism, who was powerful, assertive, and strong enough to colonize Palestine.

[0:44](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/Am1O4gaKDJbw/en/israeli-identity-zionism-and-settler-culture-in-italy-s-valsesia?t=44) The contempt for weakness ran so deep that many Holocaust survivors were looked down upon for, quote, "Going like lambs to the slaughter."

[0:55](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/Am1O4gaKDJbw/en/israeli-identity-zionism-and-settler-culture-in-italy-s-valsesia?t=55) Israel was founded on extreme violence, and none of it was that long ago.

[1:00](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/Am1O4gaKDJbw/en/israeli-identity-zionism-and-settler-culture-in-italy-s-valsesia?t=60) The settlers of today are likely the children and grandchildren of the criminals behind the Nakba, who have since carried out many more crimes.

[1:13](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/Am1O4gaKDJbw/en/israeli-identity-zionism-and-settler-culture-in-italy-s-valsesia?t=73) So long as it is a settler colony, violence will be its culture, living in the DNA of its settlers.

[1:21](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/Am1O4gaKDJbw/en/israeli-identity-zionism-and-settler-culture-in-italy-s-valsesia?t=81) So are we surprised that this behavior is exhibited abroad?

[1:33](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/Am1O4gaKDJbw/en/israeli-identity-zionism-and-settler-culture-in-italy-s-valsesia?t=93) There's another place in the world where we can more clearly see how they think, a place that isn't exotic and different, but among people they recognize as their peers.

[1:46](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/Am1O4gaKDJbw/en/israeli-identity-zionism-and-settler-culture-in-italy-s-valsesia?t=106) And it's here where a different kind of settler lives, one who is polite and by the book, and who reveals how Zionism sees any land, regardless of the race of who it belongs to.

[2:05](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/Am1O4gaKDJbw/en/israeli-identity-zionism-and-settler-culture-in-italy-s-valsesia?t=125) Nestled beneath the Italian Alps is a region called Valsesia.

[2:09](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/Am1O4gaKDJbw/en/israeli-identity-zionism-and-settler-culture-in-italy-s-valsesia?t=129) Known as the greenest valley in Italy, it's a landscape of forested mountains and quiet towns.

[2:16](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/Am1O4gaKDJbw/en/israeli-identity-zionism-and-settler-culture-in-italy-s-valsesia?t=136) It's also becoming home to a growing community of Israelis.