Meloni distances himself from both Israel and Trump

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said today that her government has suspended a defense cooperation agreement with Israel, reflecting the strained relations between the once close allies due to the continuing conflict in the Middle East.

Meloni's right-wing government was one of Israel's closest allies in Europe, but in recent weeks has criticized its attacks on Lebanon, which have killed hundreds of people and wounded thousands.

Israel also fired warning shots at Italian soldiers serving in Lebanon under a United Nations mandate last week, damaging one vehicle.

"When there are things we disagree with, we act accordingly," Meloni told reporters on the sidelines of a wine fair in Verona, northern Italy.

"In light of the current situation, the government has decided to suspend the automatic renewal of the defense agreement with Israel," she added.

Meloni's announcement is another diplomatic realignment by her right-wing government, and comes a day after she criticized another close ally, US President Donald Trump, for his attacks on Pope Leo.

A source familiar with the situation, who wished to remain anonymous, said Meloni made the decision on Monday together with the foreign and defense ministers, Antonio Tajani and Guido Crozet, as well as Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry downplayed the significance of the decision.

"We do not have a security agreement with Italy. We have a memorandum of understanding from many years ago that never contained any substantive content. This will not affect Israel's security," the statement said.

Meloni has been in power since 2022 and will face a general election by the end of 2027.

“This is a realignment,” Lorenzo Castellani, a political analyst at Rome’s Luiss University, told Reuters.

"She fears that a significant portion of the electorate, even within the center-right, could become very critical of Trump and Netanyahu, as well as of the economic consequences of this war with Iran," he added.

Italian opposition parties have long called for the termination of that agreement with Israel.

The memorandum, signed in 2003 by the government of then Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, entered into force in 2006 and was automatically renewed every five years, unless one of the parties withdrew.

It covers areas such as procurement, training, as well as "import, export and transit of defense and military equipment."

As diplomatic tensions rose, Rome summoned the Israeli ambassador for talks last week to protest an incident involving Italian soldiers in Lebanon.

Then on Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government summoned the Italian ambassador "to discuss the situation in Lebanon."