Holocaust Survivor Liliana Segre Still Faces Rising Antisemitic Threats in Italy

The Italian life senator Liliana Segre received a text message this month asking "why don't you die?"—the same phrasing she heard over telephone lines in 1938, days before her deportation to Auschwitz in 1943, when she was just 13 years old. Now 96 years old, she has become a living symbol of a troubling paradox: nearly nine decades after the Holocaust, Italy faces a resurgence of antisemitic vitriol that shows no sign of receding, and one of the country's most prominent genocide survivors remains a frequent target of digital harassment and explicit threats to her life.

Why This Matters

• Online antisemitism accounted for 643 of 963 total incidents in Italy during 2025—a 400% increase from 2022, signaling that digital platforms have become the primary vector for hate speech.

• The Italy Prosecutor's Office in Milan secured forced indictments against 7 individuals in 2025 for antisemitic abuse targeting Segre between 2020 and 2021, yet enforcement remains sporadic and reactive.

• The European Union Digital Services Act (DSA), active since early 2024, requires platforms to remove flagged hate content faster, but critics argue current penalties for non-compliance are insufficient to deter coordinated harassment campaigns.

A 96-Year-Old Still Fighting the Same Battle

Speaking at a conference held this week at Milan's Memoriale della Shoah—the very site where she was processed as a prisoner in 1944—Segre described the shock of receiving hate messages in her tenth decade. "The world of hatred is so vast, and it's always growing," she told attendees. The comparison she drew between past and present was stark and unsettling: the threats remain identical in language and intent, separated only by the medium through which they arrive.

What troubles Segre most is not merely the existence of hatred, but its normalization within institutional structures that should theoretically guard against its spread. She noted that multiple Italian governments have allowed antisemitism to lie dormant rather than actively eradicate it, only to watch it resurface whenever geopolitical tensions flare. The recent escalation, she emphasized, coincides with the Gaza conflict—a reality she has addressed with particular urgency in recent months, when she spoke of "a terrifying new wave" of antisemitism.

At the Milan memorial, organizers screened a code of conduct on respect developed for the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympics. Segre acknowledged the symbolic gesture but offered a subdued observation that revealed deeper skepticism. She reflected on how trauma leaves invisible marks: "I am not missing a limb, but something in me has remained as it was. I cannot change. It is part of me from beginning to end." The comment carried weight—acknowledging both the enduring psychological impact of genocide and the limits of institutional protocols in truly protecting survivors from contemporary threats.

The Data Behind the Alarm

The Fondazione Centro di Documentazione Ebraica Contemporanea (CDEC) released its annual antisemitism report in March 2026, and the numbers warrant serious attention from policymakers and ordinary residents alike. Italy recorded 963 separate incidents in 2025—a 10% rise from 2024, a 100% surge from 2023, and a staggering 400% increase since 2022.

More concerning than the raw numbers is the composition of the escalation. Discrimination cases have doubled, and physical assaults have increased by more than 200% in a single year. While the majority of incidents remain confined to digital spaces—hate speech, conspiracy theories, and death wishes shared across social platforms—offline violence has also accelerated. Synagogues have been vandalized, cemeteries desecrated, and streets marked with antisemitic graffiti.

The research identified Israel-related antisemitism as the primary ideological driver, a category in which traditional anti-Jewish prejudices have been transposed onto the state and the concept of Zionism. This connection matters because it has legitimized in some quarters what had been socially unacceptable rhetoric, bundling bigotry within what proponents frame as political commentary.

Who Bears Responsibility and What Italy Is Doing

The Italy Prosecutor's Office in Milan has pursued criminal cases against individuals responsible for antisemitic insults directed at Segre. In 2025, prosecutors ordered the forced indictment of 7 people for online abuse posted between 2020 and 2021. The National Office Against Racial Discrimination (UNAR) conducted searches and seizures targeting two individuals in connection with antisemitic threats and insults published online in February 2021. These enforcement actions, while notable, constitute only a fraction of the total volume of abuse flowing across digital platforms daily.

Segre has been vocal about the role of social media companies in enabling this ecosystem. "I know hatred online very well," she said in statements throughout 2025. "No matter what the topic is, the moment I speak or someone speaks about me, the haters mobilize on social networks, posting insults that are often unspeakable, wishing death upon me." She has repeatedly called for greater accountability from platform operators, arguing that algorithmic systems designed to maximize engagement inadvertently—or perhaps deliberately—amplify divisive content that generates emotional reactions.

At the European level, the EU Digital Services Act (implemented in 2024) requires major platforms—Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and others—to remove flagged illegal hate content within 48 hours and increase algorithmic transparency. On paper, the mandate appears comprehensive. In practice, implementation remains uneven across member states, and critics argue that platforms are not deploying sufficient resources to enforcement in Italy specifically. The question for Italian policymakers remains: are national authorities leveraging these EU tools effectively, or is enforcement still reactive rather than strategic?

The Education and Prevention Angle

One area where consensus has emerged is education. Holocaust education is now considered a cornerstone of prevention efforts. The logic is straightforward: understanding the historical trajectory from prejudice to genocide can inoculate younger generations against contemporary forms of the same ideology. Yet this remains aspirational in many European contexts where school curricula lack standardized content, and teachers receive insufficient professional development on how to address antisemitism when it arises in the classroom or online.

The Coalition to Counter Online Antisemitism (CCOA), launched with support from Google.org, has begun filling this gap by offering European training programs and small grants for projects centered on education rather than enforcement alone. The approach acknowledges that criminal prosecution and platform takedowns, while necessary, address only the symptoms rather than the underlying social conditions that permit hate speech to flourish.

The Persistent Challenge Facing Italy

For Italy, the fundamental challenge remains one of scale coupled with definitional ambiguity. The 643 online incidents targeting Italy in 2025 alone represent an administratively unmanageable volume if each case requires individual investigation and prosecution. Meanwhile, the absence of uniform definitions and enforcement strategies across regions complicates coordination between local authorities.

Segre herself has become, almost by necessity, a symbol of the broader challenge. Her continued visibility—her public statements, her presence at memorials, her refusal to retreat from civic discourse—serves as both a rebuke to those who wish her silenced and a reminder that the work of bearing witness cannot be outsourced to institutions. She has made plain that she expects accountability from platform operators and from governments alike. Whether Italian authorities and European institutions can mobilize at sufficient scale and speed to match her resolve remains an open and troubling question.

The fact that a 96-year-old Holocaust survivor must still deploy her testimony, still endure threats and insults, still advocate for action, suggests that the machinery created to prevent such hatred remains inadequate. Her presence at the Milan memorial this week was not a victory lap; it was a report from the front lines of a battle many hoped had been concluded decades ago.