by Giovanni Giacalone
On April 14, Yom HaShoah, in an unfortunate coincidence of timing, the Meloni government announced the suspension of the automatic renewal of its defense agreement with Israel, as reported by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on the sidelines of Vinitaly in Verona.
The ANSA news agency also reported that Defense Minister Guido Crosetto sent a letter to his Israeli counterpart, Israel Katz, announcing the suspension of the Italy–Israel memorandum.
The agreement, which outlines a framework for defense cooperation, including the exchange of military equipment and technological research between the armed forces, was originally set to be renewed every five years. It entered into force on April 13, 2016.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry replied shortly after by stating that there is no such thing as a “defense agreement” between Italy and Israel but rather “a memorandum of understanding from many years ago that has never contained any substantive content and will not affect Israel’s security.”
It is interesting to notice how just one day before the decision to suspend the memorandum with Israel, Crosetto received the Spanish ambassador to Italy, Miguel Angel Fernandez-Palacios Martinez. As reported by the Italian Ministry of Defense, the meeting had the objective of “exploring topics of common interest, with particular attention to key international issues and bilateral collaboration between the two countries, focusing on defense. To build a shared security agenda, not only within Europe but also in the broader international context.”
The meeting took place alongside Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s visit to Beijing, during which he emphasized China’s role as a key player in maintaining international stability and promoting peace in the Middle East. Sanchez also announced 19 bilateral agreements aimed at strengthening economic ties between the two countries.
Meloni’s electoral miscalculation
The move taken by the Meloni government is purely political and comes after a major defeat at the justice referendum held on March 22-23, which saw a significant involvement of the Islamists in the campaign to counter it.
The Italian voters were asked to approve changes to how judges and prosecutors are governed and disciplined, including separating their career paths and reshaping oversight bodies. The final outcome saw a 53.74 percent of people opposing Meloni’s proposed reforms, with 46.26 percent supporting them.
The pre-election phase was characterized by a highly aggressive campaign by several Islamic preachers and influencers active in the pro-Palestinian area, who urged voters from the Islamic community to vote “no,” turning the referendum into a battle against Meloni for (what they claimed) its support for Israel.
After the referendum, the shift towards an anti-Israel/US policy line became more obvious, with the Meloni government denying the US a landing request, the suspension of the memorandum with Israel, and the Israeli ambassador being recalled three times in one month-time. The first recall occurred when Jerusalem’s Latin Patriarch, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, was prevented by the Israeli police from celebrating Palm Sunday mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The Italian government initially overlooked that the ban was driven by security concerns as Israel had imposed restrictions on gatherings in all sensitive areas, including places of worship such as synagogues, churches, and mosques. Two other times, after minor incidents between Italian UNIFIL troops and Israeli troops in Lebanon.
Interestingly, the Italian government did not recall the Iranian ambassador to Italy, Mohammad Reza Sabbouri, following his March 6 interview with the Italian Rete 4 channel, when he stated that Italy was “a friendly country”, but warned Rome about the consequences if Rome were to allow the United States to use its military bases for operations related to the conflict.
Was it a warning? A threat? Whatever it was, it is worth highlighting that Italian authorities denied a March 27 US request for an aircraft to land at the Naval Air Station Sigonella on the island of Sicily before continuing on toward the Middle East.
It’s plausible that Meloni is now desperately seeking votes within the anti-Israel and anti-US electoral basin, ahead of the 2027 elections.
What Meloni miscalculates is that most of the pro-Palestinian spectrum votes left anyway and would certainly never give their preference to the right. The moderate right, for its part, is predominantly pro-US and pro-Israel and strongly opposed to Islamism, which, at least in theory, Meloni’s camp claims to oppose.
Then there are the activists of the extra-parliamentary far right, the neo-fascists, who hold anti-Semitic, anti-US, and pro-Iranian regime positions, an aspect not to be underestimated at this point.
Previous signs of unreliability of the Meloni government
In a general overview, the signs of major problems within the Italian government regarding Israel were already evident since 2024, particularly whenever the Lebanese and Iranian issues were raised.
For instance, in November 2024, after four Ghanaian UNIFIL peacekeepers were wounded in a Hezbollah rocket attack in southern Lebanon, the Italian Defense Minister, Guido Crosetto, immediately blamed Israel for the attack, but a Defense Ministry source said that Crosetto “did not have the right information” when he spoke. “Hezbollah was responsible for the attack” the source told AFP. Not long after, the Italian Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani, also corrected Crosetto, saying that the rockets were fired by Hezbollah.
Around the same time, after rockets fired by Hezbollah hit an Italian UNIFIL base, the Italian Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani said:
“Judging by the type of rockets, we can confirm that it was Hezbollah that hit the Unifil base”, declared the Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani. “Hezbollah has no right to touch the Italian troops, who have also guaranteed the safety of Hezbollah and it is therefore inadmissible and unacceptable that they shoot at the Italian contingent – added the minister – If it was a mistake, they should learn to use weapons better.”
Going back to Tajani, in April 2024, during the TV show Stasera Italia on Rete 4 channel, following Iran’s first missile attack against Israel, Tajani had stated:
“The Iranians have assured us that our Italian soldiers in the area will be respected…The Italian contingent in Lebanon is under the aegis of the UN, it is in a condition to be protected, I don’t think there are any dangers either for the Italian soldiers or for the Italian citizens in Israel and Iran”. As for the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, the minister explained how he was assured that “only ships that bring weapons to Israel would be attacked”. (Agi, Apr 14,2024).
Returning to recent days, as the US/Israel military campaign started on February 28, 2026, the Italian Defense Minister, Guido Crosetto, who was in Dubai on a personal visit unconnected to political issues, stated that the attack against Iran was against international law and complained about the repercussions: “It certainly violated international law… The Israeli attack began when Khamenei’s position became known. It’s a war that began without the world’s knowledge and that we now find ourselves having to manage,” he added. “Our problem is managing the consequences of a crisis that has exploded and that we didn’t want.” The statements were made during a Parliament reunion.
Going a bit further back, Crosetto can be recalled for his statements about an alleged plan hatched by “Jewish and American Freemasonry that was already at the gates” to get their hands on Italian banks after having ousted the pro-Catholic Bank of Italy Governor Antonio Fazio. The statement had led to a harsh condemnation from the then president of the Italian Jewish communities, Amos Luzzato, who cited a revival of the “ghosts of the Fascist 1930s”, as reported at the time by the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
As to the Italian Prime Minister Meloni, in November 2024 she stated that after the start of Israeli operations in Gaza following the October 7 massacre, the Italian government suspended the shipment of any form of armament to Israel: “all contracts signed after October 7, 2023 have not been applied. “
And again:
“I would like to point out that the Italian position of the complete blocking of all new licenses is much more restrictive than that applied by our partners, France, Germany and the United Kingdom: these partners continue to operate also for new licenses on a case-by-case basis, we have blocked everything”.
As already acknowledged, the Italian military contribution to Israel is so small that it has no effect on its national security. However, the political message is quite clear as Meloni’s government provided a clear message indicating that it would not support in any way the war against terrorism carried out by Israel and the United States. If US President Donald Trump initially had a positive opinion of Giorgia Meloni, he is now changing views.
Therefore, can such leadership truly be considered a reliable ally? Domestically, how can the Meloni-led government justify its stated commitment to countering Islamists within Italy while simultaneously avoiding actions that might offend the Iranian regime, widely regarded as a principal sponsor and exporter of Islamist extremism and terrorism? Ultimately, it is a question of credibility.
If Meloni’s goal is purely electoral, it’s highly likely that the outcome at the polls will be disastrous, because the pro-Palestinian galaxy won’t vote for Brothers of Italy (Fratelli d’Italia) regardless. Those with a pro-Israel and US perspective will be wary of voting for Meloni again. The Meloni-government may have confused pro-Palestinian street-noise and a badly managed referendum campaign with anti-US and anti-Israel consensus, and that is a huge mistake.
Regarding the Lebanese question, Italian influence is so minimal that any developments toward a peace agreement will materialize regardless of Rome’s wishes.