(see related) (ANSA) - ROME, DEC 13 - Italy's Jews expressed indignation on Friday after the USB trade union said the nation's alleged support for the "genocidal Israeli government" was among its reasons for calling a 24-hour local public transport strike.
    "Dismay and astonishment - there are no other words to describe what we feel when we read the reasons for the strike," said Victor Fadlun, the president of the Jewish Community of Rome.
    "Unfortunately, we are faced with a rise of hatred towards Israel that disregards any reasonable context, and which can have no other explanation than the urge to express... an anti-Semitism that has always smouldered and has never been weakened.
    "Our task is not to remain silent, but to denounce this - always and in any situation".
    Noemi Di Segni, the president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, echoed those sentiments.
    "While as citizens we understand the reasons for a strike, with all the inconvenience, as citizens of this country we reiterate that a strike is not a platform from which to proclaim slogans of hatred and distortion," said Di Segni. (ANSA).