«On Friday I will hand in my resignation from the Abbado Municipal Theater of Ferrara». Moni Ovadia would not have wanted to do so given that since «I have reached the age of reason I have sided with freedom of expression, but in the end I preferred not to harm the workers: I am and will always be on their side».
The request for resignation, which came in particular from Fratelli d’Italia senator Alberto Balboni, was triggered by the actor’s latest positions on Israeli politics, of which he has always been critical. «All this happens only because I expressed an opinion. I don’t have any party cards or anything. I ended up in this persecution, in this aggression, just for this reason.”
At first he didn’t want to resign but now he will. A change of direction that Ovadia justifies as follows: «The majority of the Board of Directors and the City Council are against me, so they have all the tools to corner me. Since I am a free man, I anticipate this but I note that Italy is a regime, not even remotely a democracy. It’s a shame, also because under my management the Theater had achieved sensational results, had increased productions, and had increased funding.” And he added. «I do it for the workers who must not be harmed. To quote Simone de Beauvoir, I accept the great adventure of being myself. That’s how I am and since 1994 I have denounced the policies of the Israeli government. I hope that this very small gesture of mine will serve to warn Italian citizens: when you attack opinions you begin to foreshadow tyranny.”
The sentence banned was the following: «I said that the responsibility for everything that happened falls on the Israeli government. I didn’t say long live Hamas. I just added that they let the situation fester. I’ve written much, much stronger things along these lines in the past. Until yesterday I was determined not to resign but rather to get myself kicked out. After that I would go to court. But, I repeat, I don’t want to damage the theater. Not only that, this situation would have continually recurred, because this is the new fascism: stigmatizing people’s opinions by criminalizing them.”
The actor received the solidarity of many ordinary citizens, but of no institution.