Italy Cuts Off Arms to Israel in Bold Rebuke Over Gaza Strikes

The Italian government blocked all new arms deals with the Jewish state just weeks after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 massacre, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Tuesday, the local ANSA news agency reported.“

After the start of [Israeli military] operations in Gaza, the government immediately suspended all new export licenses, and all agreements signed after October 7th were not implemented,” the Italian leader stated during a debate at Italy’s Senate ahead of Thursday’s European Council summit.

Meloni told lawmakers that licenses authorized before Oct. 7 are being “analyzed on a case-by-case basis by the competent authority at the foreign ministry.”

“We have blocked everything,” the Italian premier declared, noting that the policies of her government are “much more restrictive than that applied by our partners—France, Germany and the United Kingdom.”In her speech to the Senate on Tuesday, Meloni decried alleged Israeli attacks on U.N. Interim Force In Lebanon (UNIFIL) peacekeepers. Rome is Europe’s largest 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,” she said.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on 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.”