Why does the next Italian Prime Minister put an Arabic letter in the username on her Twitter account?

After her party topped the results of Italy's general elections last September, the leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, Giorgia Meloni, became the country's first female candidate for prime minister.

During the election campaign that preceded her party's victory, the media focused on its fascist background, but it neglected an aspect of Meloni's policies, which is its sympathy with the persecuted Christians of the East, while praising the dictatorial regimes in the Middle East that persecute these Christians, according to what the journalist and academic writer sees Joy Ayoub in an article on the Al-Jazeera website.

In this context, Meloni added a letter from the Arabic alphabet to her Twitter account ID, which is the letter "N", apparently as an expression of her solidarity with Eastern Christians. In 2014, the letter "Nun" became a symbol of solidarity with the Christian victims in the city of Mosul in The face of the targeting they were subjected to by the Islamic State in Iraq, after it took control of the city and practiced ethnic cleansing against the Christian community, which is considered one of the oldest Christian denominations in the world.

At that time, the organization was writing the letter Nun - which is the first letter of the word Christian - on the homes of Christians to distinguish them and facilitate their targeting.

Meloni wanted - by including this symbol dating back to 2014, the letter in the username - to announce that she is also "Christian and Christian", like many who participated in the solidarity campaign with the Christians of Mosul at the time.

Ayoub points out - in his article - that it seems at first glance that the next Italian prime minister's goal is simply to participate in a solidarity campaign on the Internet by adding the letter n to her personal account on social media, but the symbol has become used over time in campaigns of solidarity with Christian victims who are being targeted by extremists in Egypt, Nigeria and other countries of the world.

selectivity and exploitation

In a situation like this, the writer says, it is natural to hope that a simple and honest campaign of solidarity against atrocities committed against innocent people will not be employed for sinister purposes.

But this is what happened, as the more violent the Islamic State becomes, the more the far right in Europe emulates the extremist exclusionary discourse of the organization, and seeks to use this to tarnish Muslims, especially refugees, and brand them as terrorists.

Ayoub, who previously worked as the Middle East editor for Global Voices, notes that Meloni, like many right-wing political leaders in Europe, supports many dictators who claim to protect Christians, and one of the most prominent examples of this Supported by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

In a 2018 interview, Meloni praised Assad and his allies (Russia, Iran, and Lebanese Hezbollah) for their role in making Syrian Christians feel safe.

In his article, the writer comments that he doubts that Meloni has seen "Happy Birthdays, Homs", the short documentary film by Basel Shehadeh, which documented how Christians passed Christmas in the Syrian city of Homs in 2011, which was under bombardment by Assad's forces.

He points out that Shehadeh, a Syrian Christian, was killed a few months later in the Syrian regime's bombing of Homs, and his Muslim and Christian friends buried him while his coffin was covered with the flag of the Syrian revolution. The regime prevented his family in Damascus from holding a memorial ceremony for him in a church.

In his article, Ayoub reviewed the positions of many Western leaders who support the dictatorial leaders in the east who target their citizens of the Christian and Islamic faiths, such as the praise of former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2016, for helping Assad liberate the Syrian city of Palmyra from the grip of Organization of Islamic countries.

The writer concluded that the selective positions of solidarity by leaders of the extreme right in Europe are not limited to Syria and Iraq. The world saw how they sought refuge in silence when the Israeli occupation forces killed the Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh, attacked her funeral procession, and assaulted the mourners who were carrying her coffin.

He said that the "Noon" supporters had met with complete silence the assassination of the Christian Palestinian journalist Sherine and the direct attack on her funeral ceremony, which took place according to sacred Christian rituals.