Deported Milan Attacker Claims Antisemitic Assault Was Just a Joke
A young man deported from Italy to Tunisia for attacking Rabbi Tzemach Mizrahi in Milan claims the assault was merely a bad joke and demands to return home.
A 21-year-old man born in Como, Italy, who was recently deported to Tunisia following an attack on Rabbi Tzemach Mizrahi in Milan, claims he is the victim of a misunderstanding.
Deportation and Legal Action
Bitar Zahani, a mechanical engineering student at the University of Parma and a civil defense volunteer, was expelled from Italy after Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi ordered his deportation, alongside a Moroccan national, over the mid-September 2026 assault. Zahani was filmed alongside two others beating Rabbi Mizrahi, stealing his hat, and mocking him while he waited at a bus stop in Banda Nera square.
In an exclusive interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera from Tunisia, Zahani presented his version of events, claiming he was unjustly expelled. He insisted that he did not attack the rabbi but merely laughed, and that the incident was a poor "joke" rather than an act driven by antisemitism or hatred toward the Jewish community.
Appeal and Despair in Tunisia
Zahani described being detained unexpectedly while heading to a police station for a routine signing, and being immediately deported in plainclothes police custody without being allowed to say goodbye to his family in Italy.
My life has been destroyed. Only my grandparents live in this country, but I have never lived here. I managed to rent an apartment, but otherwise I am alone.
Expressing deep despair, Zahani emphasized that he feels entirely Italian, declared he is ready to "die for Italy," and urgently requested to return home, while Italian authorities firmly reject any leniency.
