Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on the 14th of April that her government had suspended a defense cooperation agreement with Israel, highlighting the fraying ties between the once close allies, Reuters reports.
Meloni’s right-wing party, one of Israel’s closest allies in Europe, has repeatedly criticized Israeli attacks on Lebanon in recent weeks that have killed hundreds and wounded thousands. Israel fired warning shots at Italian soldiers serving in the UN mission in Lebanon last week and damaged a vehicle. Meloni told reporters that when the party sees things it doesn’t agree with, it acts accordingly: “In light of the current situation, the government has decided to suspend the automatic renewal of the defence agreement with Israel.”
The prime minister’s statement marks another diplomatic shift for her right-wing government, and comes just days after she criticized another political ally, US President Donald Trump, for his comments about Pope Leo XIV. A source close to the matter said that Meloni made the decision to suspend cooperation with Israel together with the Italian foreign and defense ministers, including her deputy Matteo Salvini.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry dismissed the possibility that Italy’s decision would have serious consequences.
It said only a memorandum of understanding, signed many years ago, was in force,
and the content of which was not so significant as to affect Israel’s security.
Meloni has been at the helm of the Italian government since 2022, and parliamentary elections are due next year. Lorenzo Castellani, a political historian at Rome’s Louis University, told Reuters that this is a change: “She’s afraid that a sizeable portion of the electorate, even among the centre-right, will become highly critical of Trump and Netanyahu and of the effects of this war on Iran on the economy.”
Italy’s opposition has long called for an end to the defense agreement with Israel. The memorandum of understanding was signed in 2003 by the government of then-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and entered into force in 2006. The memorandum is automatically renewed every five years, unless one of the parties decides to withdraw.
Diplomatic tensions have risen sharply, and Rome last week summoned the Israeli ambassador for talks to protest an incident in Lebanon involving Italian soldiers. Meanwhile, on the 13th of April, the Israeli Prime Minister summoned the Italian ambassador to discuss the situation in Lebanon.
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