Italy suspends military agreement with Israel as cracks grow in their relationship

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced Tuesday that she has suspended her country’s military agreement with the Israeli regime, a move that will halt the exchange of military equipment and technology research between them.

"In view of the current situation, the government has decided to suspend the automatic renewal of the defense agreement with Israel," Meloni was quoted as saying on the sidelines of an event in Verona by the Italian media.

The decision comes as the Israeli regime continues to reject international calls to end its brutal aggression on Lebanon, where hundreds of people have been killed in the past week, despite the US-Iran ceasefire making it contingent on Tel Aviv to stop its aggression.

The suspension of the pact marks a significant diplomatic shift from one of Israel's long-time European partners and is likely to fracture ties between them, experts say.

Signed in 2003 and ratified by the Italian parliament in 2005 without significant opposition, the military cooperation agreement had been automatically renewed every five years since.

It followed a diplomatic flare-up on Monday, when the Israeli regime summoned Italy's ambassador to protest comments made by Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.

During a visit to Beirut, Tajani, a senior member of Meloni's government, condemned the regime's "unacceptable attacks" on civilians in Lebanon

Tajani visited Beirut on Monday for talks with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and his Lebanese counterpart Youssef Rajji.

In a post on X, Tajani wrote that he was in Lebanon to "convey Italy's solidarity following Israel's unacceptable attacks against the civilian population."

Last week, Italy had summoned the Israeli regime's envoy to Rome after regime forces attacked a convoy of Italian UN peacekeepers in Lebanon.

Earlier, amid media reports that the agreement was going to automatically renew again, the World Federation of Trade Unions issued a statement, condemning it as "a grave and unacceptable decision" amid the continued genocide of the Palestinian people, as well as unprovoked attacks against Iran and Lebanon.

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