Italian university cancels event for Hamas leader's book

A public Roman university, La Sapienza, said Friday it had cancelled a pro-Palestinian student group's event to present a book written by the slain leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar.

The presentation by the Palestinian Student Movement was due to take place on March 5, presenting "The Thorns and the Carnation" by Sinwar, published by Italian independent publishers Editori della Luce.

La Sapienza, one of the oldest and largest universities in the world with 150,000 students, said Friday it had revoked its permission to hold the presentation.

The student group had billed the upcoming presentation as "an important opportunity to deepen the understanding of the Palestinian question and the dynamics that are determining the genocide in Gaza and the ongoing ethnic cleansing in the rest of Palestine."

But one professor, who did not want to be named, told AFP he found the event "shameful".

"I am among the pro-Palestinian teachers but we do not participate in this kind of thing," the professor said.

Noemi Di Segni, president of the Union of Jewish Communities of Italy, denounced what she called "a dangerous initiative" that was likely to incite "organised terrorism".