By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jewish leaders in Italy on Thursday condemned recent newspaper advertisements likening Israel's military offensive against Hizbullah operatives in Lebanon to Nazi massacres and fascism.
In a statement issued at the end of a meeting with Interior Minister Giuliano Amato, the Committee Against Discrimination and Anti-Semitism said the ads also generated intolerance and hostility toward the Jewish community at a delicate time.
The committee deems "the statements printed in national and international newspapers comparing Israel to Nazism and fascism to be inadmissible and distorting," the group said in a statement released by the Interior Ministry.