Levi's Noi Ebrei, a response to Paolo Orano's Gli Ebrei in Italia, is primarily an anthology of contemporary writings intended to demonstrate that the Jews in Italy, totaling a mere forty thousand in a population of forty-three million, did not constitute a problem for Italian society, but were instead loyal, fully integrated citizens, for the majority of whom Zionism had scarce appeal. Mussolini's racial laws discriminating against Jews and depriving them of most of their civil rights were promulgated the following year.