According to the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Tuesday, the Italian government barred all new arms deals with the Jewish state, weeks after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 massacre began.
“After the start of [Israeli military] operations in Gaza, the government immediately suspended all new export licenses, and all the agreements signed after October 7th were not implemented.” Meloni said during a debate at Italy’s Senate ahead of Thursday’s European Council summit.
Meloni also told lawmakers that licenses authorized before October 7 were being “analyzed on a case-by-case basis by the proficient authority at the foreign ministry.”
“We have blocked everything,” the Italian prime minister declared, noting that the policies of her government were a lot more restrictive than that applied by neighbouring countries—France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
Israeli ground forces penetrated Gaza on Oct. 27 after a weeks-long air campaign in response to the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in the northwestern Negev, in which Palestinian terrorists killed about 1,200 people, wounded thousands of others, and kidnapped several people—some of whom remain in Gaza.
Among those murdered in the Oct. 7 attack were three dual Italian-Israeli nationals.
In her speech to the Senate on Tuesday, Meloni criticised the alleged Israeli attacks on U.N. Interim Force In Lebanon (UNIFIL) peacekeepers. Rome is Europe’s biggest contributor of troops, and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has said they will remain in the region despite the escalation.
“Even if there have been no casualties or extensive damage, I think that Israel’s attack on UNIFIL cannot be considered acceptable,” Meloni said.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu had on the previous day, [Monday], rejected the allegations that Israel had targeted U.N. troops in Lebanon, while noting that Jerusalem “repeatedly asked UNIFIL to get out of harm’s way.”
