Italy, Israel and Palestine, from a proArab foreign policy to Giorgia Meloni and Benjamin Netanyahu...but for how long?
Italy's First Republic had a pro-Arab and pro-Palestinian foreign policy, then flattened on Washington's positions especially after 9/11. Is this going to change now?
Italy’s foreign policy was always singular until the 1990s: a NATO member since 1949, a founding member of the European Union, the country with the largest and most influential Communist Party in Western Europe, the Belpaese managed to keep an equilibrium on the global stage at the height of the Cold War.
Italy’s soft power was central in this foreign policy, despite the crimes of Fascist and Liberal Italy in Lybia, Somalia, Eritrea, the Balkans, and Ethiopia, a violent history “wiped out” in a way, just like its fascist past from the collective memory.
Italy’s pro-Arab and pro-Palestinian stance changed significantly after the 1990s, following the scandal of Mani Pulite (Clean Hands) and the country’s progressive loss of geopolitical importance, after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
From a pro-Arab foreign policy to October the 7th: a changed foreign policy
“Italian governments had for decades a foreign policy piloted by the Christian Democracy (Democrazia Cristiana), characterized by a very independent approach to the (Israeli-Arab) conflict compared to the Western bloc’s one” Christian Elia, reporter and editor at IRPI Media and contributor at L’ Espresso and Micromega says.
This stance, as Elia underlines also carried a certain amount of pragmatism, as Italy had been targeted by attacks (like at Rome airport Fiumicino in 1973) from some splinter fringes of the Organisation for the Liberation of Palestine, and this also can explain the famous crisis of Sigonella.
The Italian pro-Arab foreign policy was not as much changed, as Elia adds, by the late Silvio Berlusconi, but far more by the intuition of Ariel Sharon’s government, after 9/11, of reframing the narrative of Israel as the vanguard in the war on terror, and therefore shifting the conversation from an anticolonial struggle to an anti-terrorism one.
There are three other crucial elements listed by Elia that led up to the paradox of the pro-Israel stance of Giorgia Meloni’s government (the first postfascist PM in Italian history) are the work of the post-fascist far-right to “cleanse” optically from its antisemitic past, a process started by former House Speaker and Deputy PM Gianfranco Fini in the early 2000s with his visit to the Yad Vashem and the growing links between the Italian and Israeli far-right.
The third element was the actual and crucial change in 2012 when Mario Monti’s government turned Italy into a key provider of weapons and surveillance systems for Israel.
" Meloni has only one priority in terms of foreign policy, which is Atlantism (Atlantismo in Italian, full support of Washington and NATO) and to a minor extent, Europeanism (support for the European Union and its institutions). The interest of the PM is not so much in supporting Israel as such, but rather in sending the same message that she has been sending for years to the US and EU countries, mainly France and Germany, that she stands with them. Regarding domestic policy, she knows she can be a reactionary leader. Still, regarding foreign policy, she aligns with what we label these days as the West" Anna Momigliano, Jewish Italian writer, journalist, and intellectual says.
Momigliano also presented these views in her analysis for Haaretz, published on May 28. In the analysis, the journalist looked at Defence Minister Guido Crosetto’s comment "I have the impression that with this decision, Israel is sowing a hatred that will affect its children and grandchildren." which had followed an Israeli airstrike on Rafah, on May 26, that had killed 45 Palestinians, including children. The question posed by Momigliano in the story was whether Netanyahu was losing a key ally in Europe, with Meloni also talking about a Palestinian state and distancing herself from the Israeli PM.
Because of these reasons, Momigliano observes, Meloni would follow a change in policy from the Biden administration if that were to happen.
“Meloni, unlike Matteo Salvini or the late Silvio Berlusconi has a good sense of history. She understands that Italy’s role is not the same as it was 25 years ago. She understands this, but also does not like it and looks for opportunities, like when she tried to go to Cairo months ago to play a role alongside Egypt (which has instead now joined South Africa’s case for genocide against Israel at the ICJ)”.
Regarding the changes in Italy’s geopolitical alignment over the last 25 years, Italian Tunisian freelance journalist Leila Belhadj Mohamed also highlights a continuity.
“ Within the parliamentary forces, the few declarations against Israel’s actions in Gaza have been very weak, differently from the vocally strong condemnations for Hamas’ actions on October the 7th. There has been a total flattening in terms of a critical and contextualized analysis of what happens in the Occupied Palestinian territories” says Belhadj Mohamed.
“Back in 2021, when Palestinian families were evicted in Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem, and Gaza was then attacked, Israel was not responding to an attack from Hamas like after October 7th. However, on that occasion, we saw Italian MPs exposing Israeli flags in Parliament. By exposing the flag of a foreign state in a Parliament, be it the Israeli or the Palestinian one, I believe that a lack of independence of the policy of that country is shown” adds Belhadj Mohamed.
It also does not help that the media debate is dominated by loud voices always ready to silence and condemn the minimum criticism of Israel’s conduct. The same goes for the political debate as Belhadj Mohamed points out.
Another problem when it comes to the media side is that voices like Elia, Momigliano, Belhadj Mohamed, Paola Caridi, Davide Lerner, Michele Giorgio or Rula Jebreal are not invited to discuss these topics on TV or other outlets, despite the knowledge of the topic. The voices that are favoured are frequently ill-informed, ignorant, and intellectually dishonest.
Additionally, Jewish Italian voices for peace and against the occupation, like the ones of the LəA, Laboratorio Ebraico Antirazzista (Antiracist Jewish Laboratory), and its members like PhD candidate, author, and journalist Bruno Montesano do not find space in the debate, unlike Jewish Italian conservative voices, and more in general voices supporting the occupation status quo.
But how does Italy’s foreign policy reflect, from UN Assembly votes to weapons sales when it comes to the genocide case launched by South Africa against Israel?
The UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Palestinian Territories’ take
Francesca Albanese is an international lawyer and academic, the UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories since May 2022 (the second Italian in this role), and her voice has been central in the media and political debate.
“The criticism of my mandate and my role has not been new nor surprising, for several aspects. Richard Falk and Michael Lynk have been tormented in the same way, maybe in a minor measure as they exposed themselves less. I made a method choice at the beginning of my mandate to make it more open and develop it as a voice of dialogue with the Jewish and Palestinian communities also beyond the borders of Israel and Palestine” Albanese says.
Francesca Albanese has been in fact at the centre of criticism and attacks in the US, Italy, and Israel, attacks that have a lot to do with unfunded defamation and what we can label character assassination. As Elia observes in the book that he wrote with Albanese, J’ Accuse (published by Fuori Scena) the Special Rapporteur is not a paid role, to protect its role from any possible bias and ensure the independence of its office.
In front of what many, from protesters to human rights experts are calling a genocide being committed against Palestinians in Gaza by Israel, Albanese’s mandate is particularly crucial.
“ Genocide is a very particular crime and is also extremely painful to cover. The evidence required for qualifying it has a high threshold compared to other crimes. The high threshold is linked to the nature of the crime and not to its perception. The nature of the crime is determined by the intention of destroying a people; this is the founding element of genocide”.
“The intention of destroying a people can be both direct and indirect, and in the latter case deduced by irrefutable proof. What is the irrefutable proof? Certainly, the military arsenal used by Israel in the first weeks after October 7 was not made to protect civilians, not just because of the number of deaths, but also how these deaths have not been prevented, through the use of bombings, snipers, starvation, not to mention the great lack of medicines, and water”.
“ All this shows an intent to commit these acts and there is a feeling which has been manifested in political discourse, conduct, and military choices as well as acts executed by Israeli military forces, acts linked to a strong dehumanisation of Palestinians. In my report ( Anatomy of a Genocide), I wrote of dehumanization and decivilisation, and it concludes that there is a genocidal logic behind all this” Albanese illustrates.
In this scenario of evident violation of UN conventions and international laws by Israel, the very concept of international law is in jeopardy, as it does not seem to apply at all to Israel.
“ When it comes to international law, Israel is not the only country which resoundingly violates international law. I would like for international law to be applied with the same rigor as traffic laws. However, Israel is the only country that can count on massive acritical support from Western countries. Then there is the modus operandi, as seen in the GOP senators' letter to the ICC, a display of arrogance. There is this language and then the attacks against UNRWA and its staff”.
When it comes to Italian responsibilities, Albanese concludes “ We repudiate war in our Constitution and we do not follow our international obligations to prevent genocide. Our foreign policy, like the other EU countries’ ones, is flattened on US positions and this is disastrous”.
“ The Arab world, the Mediterranean countries, and Palestine are our neighbors and we should have the courage to retrieve our diplomacy, one of support and conciliation. We always had the respect of both Israeli and Palestinians, and the Arab world. This is a phase of decline, without the culture and political will of the past. We are unable to cultivate strategic alliances with our neighbors, both geographical and of cultural proximity” explains Albanese.
When the G7 began on June 13, in Borgo Egnazia, Puglia, Italy, all the eyes were on Meloni, who has also been extremely successful in the European elections.
When Al Jazeera’s journalist Virginia Pietromarchi asked Giorgia Meloni how many civilian deaths in Gaza would take for the G7 countries to reprimand Israel, the PM responded: "Israel has fallen into Hamas's trap to isolate it from the international community." A take like this seems to align with Momigliano’s views and her analysis published in Haaretz. Is it just strategic short-term positioning or is there a shift? The opposition Democratic Party, on the other hand, faces an internal struggle on the matter between MPs more sympathetic to the sufferings of Palestinians and MPs who are way more focused on supporting Israel, with Secretary Elly Schlein caught in the middle.
When it comes to bringing back the dynamic Italian foreign policy of the past, it remains to be seen if this is something more than mere political positioning or nostalgic plans, re-evoking leading figures of the past. While Meloni, to quote Momigliano, does have a good sense of history, the country has long reneged its soft power and it would take much more than catchy soundbites to take it back.
Regardless of political positioning, finally, as Elia concludes, when it comes to the solidarity for Palestinians it is possible to see, especially among non-white youths across Europe a common stand for justice, against double standards, genocide, and white supremacy. The Palestinian struggle is for the marginalised and racialised in fact, a mirror of their own.
This piece has been updated today, but was published on June 13. The newsletter will be back in the coming days, with an electoral focus and more Brit Beats of course! If you like stories like this, please subscribe.
This story was supposed to be published in a major publication, but after weeks of radio silence, I had to opt for publishing it in my newsletter. Would you like to offer me a cup of coffee for stories like this? Drop me a line at angeloboccatonews@gmail.com and let’s have a chat.
By the way, thanks to all the amazing supporters who helped me in raising funds for Medical Aid for Palestinians. Thank you so much, I was able to raise more than my target, for a total of £280. You have been amazing! Also, if you want to donate, the fundraiser is still open here.