In 2014, during Israel's assault on Gaza that killed more than 2,200 Palestinians, then-Italian MP Giorgia Meloni wrote on social media: 'Another massacre of children in Gaza. No cause is fair when it sheds the blood of the innocent.' More than a decade on, that moral clarity is nowhere to be found.
As prime minister, Meloni's remarks on Gaza have become increasingly cautious and equivocal, marked by an 'on the one hand, on the other' tone. Her address on the war against Iran last March captured that ambiguity: she declared that she 'neither condemns nor condones' the conflict.
So when Italy announced it was suspending the automatic renewal of its defence pact with Israel, many observers hailed it as a turning point. Yet the suspension did not follow the killing of some 75,000 Palestinians or the destruction of Gaza's hospitals, schools and mosques. Meloni only acted after Israeli forces fired warning shots at a convoy of Italian UN peacekeepers in Lebanon.
The same reflex was visible when US President Donald Trump insulted Pope Leo XIV. Only then did Meloni issue rare criticism of Trump, calling his words 'unacceptable'. Up to that point, she had found his conduct in Gaza, Cuba, Venezuela and Lebanon quite tolerable.
Meloni's foreign policy follows a script of moral performativity. Italy remains the only Western European and G7 nation to participate, even as an 'observer', in Trump's so-called Board of Peace. A European civil petition calling on the EU to suspend its association agreement with Israel gathered more than one million signatures, but the government's symbolic gestures routinely dissolve once the spotlight shifts.
Within days of suspending the defence pact, Italy quietly joined Germany in blocking the EU's attempt to suspend the trade deal with Israel. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani loudly declared a halt to arms exports to Israel in January 2024, only for Defence Minister Guido Crosetto to clarify that the freeze applied solely to new licences.
Polls now show a widening gap between government rhetoric and public sentiment. Only 11 percent of Italians consider Israel 'an ally'. For Meloni, who defines her leadership through nationalist pride, this unease is politically dangerous. Suspending an 'automatic renewal' clause in a defence pact costs little; Israel's own foreign minister admitted the agreement had 'no substantial content'.
Europe's dependency on Israeli defence technology, cyber-intelligence and AI systems runs deep, and Italy is no exception. Italian industry giants Leonardo S.p.A. and Fincantieri maintain strong partnerships with Israeli firms such as Elbit Systems, with Leonardo producing components for F-35 fighter jets heavily used in Gaza. Despite workers' protests, those contracts continue unabated.
Italy has repeatedly abstained or voted against UN General Assembly resolutions calling for a ceasefire, refused to support Palestine's bid for UN membership, and sided with Israel against the International Criminal Court, with Tajani dismissing ICC prosecutor Karim Khan's request for arrest warrants for Netanyahu as 'unacceptable'.
Sociologist Alessandro Orsini describes Meloni's behaviour as a 'viper strategy': 'When the sun is strong, the viper enjoys the light on the exposed rock. When the cameras shine on her, she says she 'feels sorry' for the Palestinians. But when the sun disappears, she retreats under the rock.'
Italy once played a unique role as a bridge between Europe and the Arab world. But Meloni lacks the courage to maintain that role. Her moral clarity from 2014 – the conviction that no cause is fair when it sheds the blood of the innocent – is lost.
Source: www.aljazeera.com