In 2010, addressing the Knesset on the occasion of the visit of his Italian counterpart, Silvio Berlusconi, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told this story:
“I wish to share with you and the members of the Knesset a special story that touched my heart. It is a story about an Italian woman during World War II.”
“On the train, on her way to work, this woman observed a German policeman arresting a Jewish girl. The Italian woman, who was then eight months pregnant, came between the German officer and the Jewish girl.”
“Without an ounce of fear she confronted the German officer and told him: ‘You can kill me, but look at the faces of the passengers on the train. I assure you, they will not let you out of here alive’.”
“With these decisive words, that Italian woman saved the life of the Jewish girl. She lit, if only for a second, a beacon of human light and courage in the great darkness that covered the entire land of Europe at the time. That brave woman was named Rosa, and one of her children is Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s Prime Minister.”
This week, we read the portion of Tetzaveh, continuing the Torah