Italy Suspends Defense Agreement With Israel Amid Mounting Public Pressure to Cut Ties

The Italian government has suspended a military cooperation agreement with Israel in response to its attacks against Lebanon in recent weeks, which have killed hundreds of people.

Italy's right-wing prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, announced on Tuesday that it was suspending an agreement with Israel that dates back to 2003 and involved cooperation between the two countries, which traded military equipment and shared technical data.

“In view of the current situation, the government has decided to suspend the automatic renewal of the defense agreement with Israel,” Meloni said on Tuesday.

It marks a dramatic shift in policy for Italy's government, which has until recently been one of Israel's closest allies in Europe. Amid the genocide in Gaza, Meloni has faced pressure both from opposition parties and from the public to cut ties with Israel for more than a year.

The relationship appears to have finally frayed with the events of the past several weeks, when Israel launched an invasion of Lebanon that has involved the displacement of more than 1 million people, the razing of entire villages, and the aggressive bombing of civilian areas.

Tension between the two countries hit a boiling point over the past week, when the Italian government accused Israeli forces of firing warning shots at Italian UN peacekeepers, which caused damage to a vehicle but resulted in no injuries.

Italy was also among several European countries that called for Lebanon's inclusion in last week's ceasefire agreement between the US and Iran. Meloni accused Israel of "disrespecting" the two-week truce when it launched the most devastating attack yet on Lebanon the day after the ceasefire was reached, which killed and wounded more than 1,400 people, including many civilians.

Though Meloni has been an ideological ally of US President Donald Trump, she has grown increasingly critical of the American president. On Monday, she condemned what she called "unacceptable" insults from Trump against Pope Leo XIV, who criticized the war in Iran.

Trump responded with his own shots at Meloni: “I thought she had courage. I was wrong," he said.

Meloni is also facing mounting pressure from her own people over Italy's relationship with Israel, which could loom large as she faces reelection in 2027.

Nearly 3 out of 4 Italians said in a September survey that they believe Israel's actions in Gaza constitute a genocide, and 59% said they wanted Italy to cut ties with Israel. During the fall, millions of Italians took to the streets to rally in solidarity with Palestinians and support the Global Sumud Flotilla as it carried humanitarian aid to besieged Gaza.

This anger has been seized on by the opposition. Last week, during a heated exchange, the Parliament erupted in applause after opposition lawmaker Angelo Bonelli took Meloni to task for "failing" to condemn or distance herself from Trump or Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"You are stubbornly short-sighted and fail to grasp where the world is heading," Bonelli said. "A world where the logic of war is dictated by two criminals."

Responding to Israel's attacks on Lebanon on Wednesday, Bonelli asked the prime minister: "200 people were killed as if it were nothing. What is your response? What are you doing? Do you have the courage to take action?"

Riccardo Magi, a member of the center-left opposition party More Europe, wrote on social media that by suspending Italy's defense agreement with Israel, Meloni had "finally realized that something is happening in the Middle East."

"After years of massacres by Israel against Palestinian civilians, in which our government simply decided to look the other way, today Meloni has suddenly decided to suspend the memorandum between Italy and Israel, as the opposition has been demanding for a long time," he said.

However, he cautioned that the decision was "not about a renewed humanitarian spirit on the part of our government," but rather "pure electoral convenience."

"It is not enough for us, and we believe sanctions are necessary against Netanyahu and his ministers, including a ban on entry into the territory of the union," he said. "The illegal occupation of Gaza, together with the wars provoked in the area without any consideration for the lives of civilians, is now a point of no return. Israel must stop."