The Sanremo controversies show no sign of abating. In recent days, the name Ghali, the Milanese rapper of Tunisian origin who took part in the 74th edition of the festival, has hit the headlines for spreading pro-Gaza messages from the stage of the Ariston Theater. This position was also reiterated in the last episode of Domenica In. That's why Rai CEO Roberto Sergio asked presenter Mara Venier to read a statement expressing solidarity with Israel. This was the topic that sparked the debate at Eight and a Half. Michele Santoro took the floor and admitted: “With Ghali I would not have used the term 'genocide',” and later clarified: “But at this moment it means that we must stop the weapons and the massacre of innocents.”
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“But if we read the international treaties that regulate genocide, we are probably in the middle of an action that can be described as genocide,” the journalist and founder of the “Peace, Land and Dignity” list later said. “Amadeus took a questionable position on the sinkholes, completely outside the story, but he said what he wanted without remembering or explaining all the events. Why – Santoro continued – if Ghali deletes the uniform information, does he have to assume that October 7th existed? When Ghali speaks about Palestine, the Rai CEO should not rush to make a response statement by entrusting it to a moderator. And I would have been smarter if I had had an announcer read them,” he said. At this point, Aldo Cazzullo, also a guest of Lilli Gruber, intervened in the debate. “I wouldn’t have used the word genocide,” the Corriere della Sera journalist responded to his colleague’s statements.