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

It's been a while, we say.

There's this image that Israelis seem to have of themselves, that they're direct, they have chutzpah.

Aggression being seen as confidence isn't accidental.

For centuries in Europe, Jews were stereotyped as weak, pale, and frail.

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.

The contempt for weakness ran so deep that many Holocaust survivors were looked down upon for, quote, "Going like lambs to the slaughter."

Israel was founded on extreme violence, and none of it was that long ago.

The settlers of today are likely the children and grandchildren of the criminals behind the Nakba, who have since carried out many more crimes.

So long as it is a settler colony, violence will be its culture, living in the DNA of its settlers.

So are we surprised that this behavior is exhibited abroad?

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.

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.

Nestled beneath the Italian Alps is a region called Valsesia.

Known as the greenest valley in Italy, it's a landscape of forested mountains and quiet towns.

It's also becoming home to a growing community of Israelis.