The Jerusalem Post has a very sketchy AP report on anti-Israel demonstrations in Milan, Italy, at a march commemorating Italy’s liberation from fascism. (Hat tip: Bloodthirsty Liberal.)

The Vatican newspaper on Wednesday called the trampling and burning of Israeli flags during a march in Milan a “disgusting” offense to all Jews.

The protests occurred near a march Tuesday commemorating the 61st anniversary of Italy’s liberation from fascism.

“To offend a flag means to offend the people for whom it is a symbol, and therefore in this case it was an offense to the entire Jewish people, precisely on the day in which we celebrate liberation from their infamous oppressors,” the L’Osservatore Romano newspaper wrote.

More details at Ynet: Italy: Israel envoy angry at burning of flags.

Israel’s ambassador in Rome said on Wednesday he was filled with “shame and rage” after two Israeli flags were burned during a demonstration commemorating the liberation of Italy at the end of World War Two.

The flags were set ablaze by a small group of left-wing demonstrators, who also shouted “Zionists, assassins” and “free Palestine” at a Jewish delegation which took part in the largely peaceful march in Milan on Tuesday.

Centre-left leader and prime minister-in-waiting Romano Prodi strongly condemned the incident, which added to political tensions after his narrow victory in this month’s election.

Prodi’s centre-right rivals accused him of hypocrisy, saying his broad coalition included anti-Israel activists.

“As a Jew and an Israeli, I was filled with shame and rage yesterday at the sight of the barbaric behavior by the ‘fascists’ of the extreme left,” Israeli ambassador Ehud Gol said in a strongly worded statement.

The Vatican newspaper on called the trampling and burning of Israeli flags a “disgusting” offense to all Jews.

JTA reports that the demonstrators chanted “Intifada.”

According to Italian media, the anti-Israel protests, which took place near the main Liberation Day march in Milan, included the burning of two Israeli flags and the chanting of “intifada.”