The Italian actor and director delivered a poignant television address, denouncing the massacres of children in Ukraine, Gaza, and the Mediterranean. A heartfelt cry against the violence and silence of the world.
Raw emotion, a straightforward speech. On June 13, on the set of the program Propaganda Live broadcast on the Italian channel La7, Roberto Benigni appeared with moist eyes and a trembling voice. Winner of an Oscar in 1999 for Life Is Beautiful, a film that also focused on the barbarity of the most vulnerable, the actor denounced, with rare intensity, the horror of contemporary wars, and especially their youngest victims.
"When children play at war and one of them gets hurt, the game stops. But now they keep killing. Why?" he exclaimed, visibly upset. He spoke in turn about Ukraine, Palestine, Gaza, but also the tragedies of migrants in the Mediterranean, deploring a political inaction that he considers "cowardly."
A call to awaken consciences
Quoting the words of Joe Biden who, after the October 7 massacres in Israel, reportedly advised Benjamin Netanyahu not to respond "to horror with another horror," Benigni regretted that this warning had not been heeded. He openly criticized the Israeli response, while calling for universal human solidarity: "When a child dies under bombs, it is all of us who bleed."
He also blamed the European Union, accusing it of inaction in the face of the escalating conflicts on the continent's doorstep. "If there had been a real Union, some of these wars might not have happened."
"They must feel this pain."
With his simple yet powerful words, Benigni delivered a stirring plea: "The cry of pain rises from all corners of the world. Those who do not hear it are not human. They must feel this pain; it is unbearable for the soul."
In a world increasingly marked by indifference, his speech serves as an urgent reminder: do not look away, do not remain silent, and above all, never get used to the unacceptable.
