BRUSSELS
An Italian journalist has been dismissed from his position after asking a European Commission spokesperson whether Israel should pay for the reconstruction of Gaza, The Intercept news portal reported on Tuesday.
Gabriele Nunziati, a Brussels-based correspondent for Rome's Nova news agency, said he was informed that his contract would be terminated about a month after he started covering the EU.
The decision came shortly after a question he posed during an Oct. 13 press conference went viral online.
Nunziati asked Paula Pinho, the European Commission's chief spokesperson, why Israel should not bear the financial responsibility for rebuilding Gaza, noting that the EU has repeatedly said Russia must pay for the reconstruction of Ukraine.
"You've been repeating several times that Russia should pay for the reconstruction of Ukraine. Do you believe that Israel should pay for the reconstruction of Gaza since they have destroyed almost all its civilian infrastructure?" Nunziati asked.
Pinho replied that it was "an interesting question" but declined to comment.
Two weeks later, on Oct. 27, he received an email from Nova stating that the agency intended to end their collaboration, Nunziati told The Intercept.
Francesco Civita, a spokesperson for Nova, confirmed the termination, saying the question was "technically incorrect" because "Russia invaded a sovereign country unprovoked, whereas Israel was responding to an attack."
Civita argued that Nunziati "failed to grasp the substantial and formal difference in the situations" and that the viral video of his question caused "embarrassment" to the agency after being shared by "Russian and anti-European" media channels.
Since October 2023, the Israeli genocidal war has killed nearly 69,000 people and injured more than 170,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.