(ANSA) - ROME, MAR 16 - A past tolerance of protests led to the terrorism that killed Aldo Moro, Farm Minister Francesco Lollobrigida said on the 46th anniversary of the kidnapping of the Christian Democrat leader and the murder of his five police escorts on March 16, 1978, and after President Sergio Mattarella phoned La Repubblica editor-in-chief Maurizio Molinari to express his solidarity after a protest by students stopped the journalist from taking part in a debate at the Federico II University in Naples over alleged pro-Israeli bias.
    Molinari, who is Jewish, has come under fire for allegedly being too sympathetic with Israel after it waged war on Hamas following the October 7 massacres.
    "The tolerance of the past towards these episodes then led to terrorism and its reinforcement up to the episode of Aldo Moro who, with his sacrifice, created such a widespread democratic alarm that it allowed us to defeat that brutal phenomenon that is subversion and terrorism", said Lollobrigida in Matelica on the sidelines of the inauguration of an exhibition dedicated to the Marche town's most famous son, late Eni founder Enrico Mattei.
    The minister said "this happens when the direction is different from the red thuggery of the leftist and anarchist squats ('social centres')." The students involved in Naples held up a banner that read "Zionists out of universities".
    Mattarella's office said Friday that the head of State had phoned Molinari to expressed his solidarity. The statement said Mattarella stated that "what must be banned from universities is intolerance.
    "Those who claim the right to impose their ideas by preventing people who think differently from expressing theirs are incompatible with higher education," he said.
    Italy's Jewish community also voiced solidarity with Molinari.
    "It is inconceivable and unacceptable that the Federico II University of Naples was forced to cancel a conference due to the intimidation and violence of a group of troublemakers against the speaker, La Repubblica Editor Maurizio Molinari, just because he is Jewish," said a joint statement by the President of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, Noemi Di Segni, the President of the Jewish Community of Rome, Victor Fadlun, and the President of the Jewish Community of Milan, Walker Meghnagi.
    "Just because he is still trying to act responsibly as a journalist. Universities are, or should be, a place of tolerance, inclusion, freedom of thought, respect for the person.
    "These episodes only strengthen our sense of community. "If anti-Semitism prevails, it is a defeat for everyone".
    Higher Education and Research Minister Anna Maria Bernini sent a message to Molinari expressing her dismay at what had happened and asked the Conference of Italian University Rectors (CRUI) to hold an extraordinary meeting on the "intolerance emergency", sources said.
    Molinari wrote about the incident on the newspaper's website, saying "the best response to every form of intolerance is respect for your neighbour".
    He said he had offered to meet the protesters and listen to their views on the war in the Middle East but was knocked back.
    "I remain open to dialogue with them on any issue," he said.
    (ANSA).