Respectable Denial: The Neutralization of Jewish Geography and Holocaust Memory in Italian Discourse

This article examines the neutralization of Jewish geography and the relativization of Holocaust memory in contemporary Italian discourse as interconnected mechanisms of what is here termed respectable denial—a form of antisemitism that operates through academic language, ethical argumentation, and universalist claims. Drawing on Critical Discourse Analysis, this article examines three types of sources: academic and para-academic texts (2000–2025), educational materials, and discussions among Italian teachers in online professional communities. The analysis reveals systematic patterns: Jewish toponyms (Judea, Samaria) are stigmatized as ideological, while Jordanian terms like “West Bank” are deemed neutral; archaeological evidence of ancient Israelite kingdoms is denied or minimized according to standards not applied to comparable cases; and Holocaust memory is relativized through equations with Gaza, universalization into “all genocides,” or explicit refusals to commemorate. These mechanisms are not accidental but functional: by delegitimizing Jewish historical-territorial connections and emptying the Holocaust of its specificity, they create a discursive space in which contemporary antisemitism becomes literally unthinkable, because its very possibility is excluded. The article demonstrates how respectable denial operates precisely by presenting itself as its opposite: as universalism, anti-colonialism, and ethical pedagogy