The Italian weekly magazine L'Espresso published a cover on April 10 with the large headline "L'Abuso," which means "The Abuse" in Italian. The issue features the title "The Zionist Right Shaping Greater Israel," presenting the image as a metaphor for expansionist policies associated with the Israeli right.
Israeli Ambassador to Italy Jonathan Peled criticized the cover as a manipulative distortion of reality, while the magazine's main investigation claims that Israel uses security narratives to justify territorial expansion across the region.
Jewish Rabbi Elchanan Poupko compared Espresso to the Nazi publication Der Stürmer due to this cover. "The Italian magazine Espresso online, which publishes antisemitic illustrations in the style of Der Stürmer, should clarify where they got this image. The military vest shown here is no longer used by the IDF, the wedding ring and bracelet are never worn by ultra-Orthodox men, the shape of the beard and skullcap are unrealistic and unusual, and of course the very bizarre smile/showing of teeth appears unnatural," wrote Poupko, attempting to dispute the credibility of the image.
Incidentally, the photograph was taken in December of last year when Israeli settlers invaded Palestinian agricultural land south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank.
According to local media and the Bedouin rights organization Al-Baydar, around 850 olive and grapevine trees were uprooted in Khirbet Khallat al-Homs, southeast of Masafer Yatta.
Al-Baydar states that settlers from the Susya settlement used bulldozers to destroy and level large areas of agricultural land in that region.
Approximately 500 grapevine stumps and 350 olive trees belonging to the Obeid al-Masri family were damaged.
"The Khallat al-Homs area has long witnessed daily violations," the organization reported, noting that settlers use Palestinian land for grazing their own livestock.