Sanremo, April 28th, 2026 – As a growing number of people are turning against Israel while quoting international law, there has never been a more important time to remind the international community of the fact that the legal rights of the Jewish people to reconstitute their national home in Eretz Israel were enshrined into international law in San Remo, Italy on 25 April 1920, when the Supreme Council of the Principal Allied Powers adopted the San Remo Resolution, which affirmed the 3,000-year-old connection between the Jewish people and the land of Israel.

Exactly 106 years later, international delegates from across Europe came together in Sanremo to celebrate the miraculous rebirth of Israel in 1948 and the San Remo Resolution of 25 April 1920, which paved the way for this miracle. During a week full of historical significance both for Israel and Italy (Israel celebrated its 78th anniversary on Wednesday in the Hebrew calendar, and Italy its liberation from Nazi occupation on Saturday) the Israeli ambassador to Italy, Jonathan Peled, reminded the audience that “the miraculous rebirth of Israel is unparalleled in the history of nations. There is no other people who have maintained their identity for thousands of years and returned to its homeland to build a democratic society.” He went on to say that “it is often misunderstood that the State of Israel was created as compensation for the Shoah. The facts tell another story: the legal rights of the Jewish people to their homeland were recognised twenty years earlier at the San Remo Peace Conference. This is why the San Remo Resolution deserves more attention as it is a key to understanding both the miraculous birth of the Jewish state and its legitimacy under international law,” the Ambassador noted, commending the European Coalition for Israel for its work to raise awareness of this legal foundation.

The international dinner on Saturday at the Royal Hotel was followed by a symposium on Sunday, where a panel of Italian speakers — among them Senator Gianni Berrino and TV journalist Flavia Fratello — took part. Despite the two-thousand-year-long history of the Jewish community in Italy and the nation’s leading role in the process which led to the rebirth of the State of Israel (the Italian government hosted the San Remo conference as one of the four members of the Supreme Council of the Principal Allied Powers), public opinion has shifted in recent years, with violent antisemitic attacks on the streets of Italy and a hostile environment on college campuses and in the Italian media. Nevertheless, Ambassador Peled pointed out that Italy is one of the countries with the most Israel friendship associations in all of Europe. This was well reflected in the symposium on Sunday, where the ballroom at the Hôtel des Anglais was filled to capacity.

In his speech, ECI Founding Director Tomas Sandell suggested that “2026 is a new 1920 moment, when the map of the Middle East is being redrawn.” Pointing out the significance of 1920, not only for the State of Israel but also for Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Jordan, who were all created out of the San Remo Peace Conference, he said that “this day should also be a day of celebration for these countries.” Addressing a delegation of Iranian pro-democracy activists who had been specially invited to the event, he said that “for a new Middle East to be born, the current repressive Iranian regime will have to be replaced by a democratic and secular Iran.”

He concluded by saying that “whereas most Europeans today shy away from openly waving the Israeli flag on the streets, our Iranian friends proudly carry it. They know better than anyone what follows when anti-Western leftists and radical Islamists join forces. After 47 years of Islamist repression, we need to pray and work for a democratic and peaceful Middle East. There is no better place to promote these values of freedom, peace and dignity than in Sanremo, the location of the 1920 San Remo Peace Conference and the birthplace of the Jewish state under international law.”

The symposium was organised by the Israel–Italy Associations in Ventimiglia, Sanremo, and Savona, as well as by the European Coalition for Israel, and was moderated by Cristina Franco.