Memorial stickers for fallen Israeli soldiers have appeared on the walls of Rome’s Jewish School.New memorials in Rome are rare, but one new monument appears on the walls of the Jewish School in Rome. Its construction appears simple: small, rectangular stickers containing a picture and a short text in Hebrew. Look closely and you might be surprised to find that there are no Italian nationals remembered here. All the stickers commemorate young Israelis.The stickers honour the lives and deaths of foreign soldiers serving with the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) during or after the attacks of 7 October 2023. Each sticker traces a life and, together, they form an unofficial memorial dedicated to those killed in a conflict in which Italy has no direct involvement. The stickers appeared in the cities of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa and elsewhere in 2023 and 2024. Their presence in Rome is testimony to dedicated networks of bereaved family members and friends, some of them former IDF soldiers, who bring stickers with them on their European travels.Jeff Weiss is a US-Israeli citizen living in Tel Aviv who runs a printing service and a website called Stickers of Meaning. Weiss told me he wants to “amplify the inspirational messages that are found on the stickers – messages of hope, joy, love, shared responsibility, daring, overcoming adversity,” he said. In contrast to the uniformity of military cemeteries, the stickers celebrate life in a personalised way, remembering an individual son or brother, or a cherished friend. “Life is unpredictable,” reads one, “the power to choose how to deal with it is in your hands.” These motivational maxims – “every struggle is an opportunity” – shape adversity into a test of character. Hebrew readers are told to “be the person you would like to meet” and “fight and achieve your goal”. The current management of Rome’s Jewish School has decided that these stickers support the school’s educational aims. Like other public signs, they communicate different things to different members of the Jewish community, while also signalling values to Rome’s non-Jewish residents and to millions of tourists. In other countries, the stickers are removed by government authorities or activists who view them as illegal propaganda for a militarised society committed to ethnonationalist and religious violence. The stickers elicit compassion for conscripted members of a military organisation responsible for approximately 72,000 civilian deaths, including 20,000 children. Those who survive in Gaza live as refugees in a land “where no human being can exist,” according to Giora Eiland, a former IDF major general. If “every struggle is an opportunity”, then perhaps we should ask what opportunities have emerged from Israel’s wars across the region. Surely not the conditions for an enduring peace. Under ceasefire agreements and international treaties, Israeli settlers in the West Bank continue to seize Palestinian land and destroy Palestinian homes. More than 1,000 civilians have been killed as Israeli military or security forces fail to uphold international law. Many thousands more civilians have died in southern Lebanon, where ceasefire agreements have failed to stop repeated IDF bombings in civilian areas. In June 2025, a British YouGov poll found that just 6% of Italians supported Israel’s military response to the 7 October attacks. Paradoxically, this low level of public support may also help explain why Rome’s memorial stickers remain. Rome’s Jewish School promotes a strong identification between its pupils and the Israeli state, and the Israeli flag flies alongside that of the European Union above the school entrance. The return of Israeli tourism to Rome in 2025, combined with the presence of Italian military personnel on Via del Portico d’Ottavia, gives this contentious memorial a degree of protection. As seen during many recent conflicts involving Israel, political conservatives often argue that the cause of the Israeli state is synonymous with Jewish people everywhere. The classic defence of Israel’s militarism relies on a shared identity of victimhood and vulnerability with the diaspora, where collective losses are redeemed through the security of a promised homeland. But Jewish safety and military conquest for territorial sovereignty are not the same thing, and conflating the two risks turning every member of the Jewish diaspora into a shield for the Israeli government’s policies. Acts of remembrance are often shaped by fear of loss. Noam Lesham, a university professor and political historian of Israel, explained that the stickers communicate a deeper anxiety. “In contrast with the idea that Israel makes all Jews secure,” he told me, “the stickers recall Israel’s vulnerability, and the danger it has created for all.” Political engagement with these stickers can help separate ideas that politicians present as naturally inseparable. Promoting peace means advocating political solutions and resisting the rising tide of militarism that keeps these stickers appearing in Rome. Ph: William Viney Profile pic: Stephanie Black

New memorials in Rome are rare, but one new monument appears on the walls of the Jewish School in Rome. Its construction appears simple: small, rectangular stickers containing a picture and a short text in Hebrew. Look closely and you might be surprised to find that there are no Italian nationals remembered here. All the stickers commemorate young Israelis. The stickers honour the lives and deaths of foreign soldiers serving with the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) during or after the attacks of 7 October 2023. Each sticker traces a life and, together, they form an unofficial memorial dedicated to those killed in a conflict in which Italy has no direct involvement. The stickers appeared in the cities of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa and elsewhere in 2023 and 2024. Their presence in Rome is testimony to dedicated networks of bereaved family members and friends, some of them former IDF soldiers, who bring stickers with them on their European travels.
Jeff Weiss is a US-Israeli citizen living in Tel Aviv who runs a printing service and a website called Stickers of Meaning. Weiss told me he wants to “amplify the inspirational messages that are found on the stickers – messages of hope, joy, love, shared responsibility, daring, overcoming adversity,” he said. In contrast to the uniformity of military cemeteries, the stickers celebrate life in a personalised way, remembering an individual son or brother, or a cherished friend. “Life is unpredictable,” reads one, “the power to choose how to deal with it is in your hands.” These motivational maxims – “every struggle is an opportunity” – shape adversity into a test of character. Hebrew readers are told to “be the person you would like to meet” and “fight and achieve your goal”. The current management of Rome’s Jewish School has decided that these stickers support the school’s educational aims. Like other public signs, they communicate different things to different members of the Jewish community, while also signalling values to Rome’s non-Jewish residents and to millions of tourists. In other countries, the stickers are removed by government authorities or activists who view them as illegal propaganda for a militarised society committed to ethnonationalist and religious violence. The stickers elicit compassion for conscripted members of a military organisation responsible for approximately 72,000 civilian deaths, including 20,000 children. Those who survive in Gaza live as refugees in a land “where no human being can exist,” according to Giora Eiland, a former IDF major general. If “every struggle is an opportunity”, then perhaps we should ask what opportunities have emerged from Israel’s wars across the region. Surely not the conditions for an enduring peace. Under ceasefire agreements and international treaties, Israeli settlers in the West Bank continue to seize Palestinian land and destroy Palestinian homes. More than 1,000 civilians have been killed as Israeli military or security forces fail to uphold international law. Many thousands more civilians have died in southern Lebanon, where ceasefire agreements have failed to stop repeated IDF bombings in civilian areas. In June 2025, a British YouGov poll found that just 6% of Italians supported Israel’s military response to the 7 October attacks. Paradoxically, this low level of public support may also help explain why Rome’s memorial stickers remain. Rome’s Jewish School promotes a strong identification between its pupils and the Israeli state, and the Israeli flag flies alongside that of the European Union above the school entrance. The return of Israeli tourism to Rome in 2025, combined with the presence of Italian military personnel on Via del Portico d’Ottavia, gives this contentious memorial a degree of protection. As seen during many recent conflicts involving Israel, political conservatives often argue that the cause of the Israeli state is synonymous with Jewish people everywhere. The classic defence of Israel’s militarism relies on a shared identity of victimhood and vulnerability with the diaspora, where collective losses are redeemed through the security of a promised homeland. But Jewish safety and military conquest for territorial sovereignty are not the same thing, and conflating the two risks turning every member of the Jewish diaspora into a shield for the Israeli government’s policies. Acts of remembrance are often shaped by fear of loss. Noam Lesham, a university professor and political historian of Israel, explained that the stickers communicate a deeper anxiety. “In contrast with the idea that Israel makes all Jews secure,” he told me, “the stickers recall Israel’s vulnerability, and the danger it has created for all.” Political engagement with these stickers can help separate ideas that politicians present as naturally inseparable. Promoting peace means advocating political solutions and resisting the rising tide of militarism that keeps these stickers appearing in Rome. Ph: William Viney Profile pic: Stephanie Black