Decode39 – PM Meloni called PM Netanyahu to express Rome’s solidarity and vow its support. FM Tajani is travelling to Egypt and working with Quint partners to contain the violence and prevent it from spilling out of the Middle East. Meanwhile, Italian authorities are boosting security measures and acting proactively to address the risk of jihadist extremism
The Rome-Jerusalem hotline.
Italian officials have been following the outbreak of violence near the Gaza Strip over the weekend, as Hamas launched a bloody attack against Israel’s citizens and statehood. On Sunday, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni spoke with her Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, expressing
“the Italian government’s full solidarity [and] its closeness to the families of the victims, the hostages and the injured.”
- The Italian executive “will work with international partners to coordinate support. Italy stands by the Israeli people at this difficult time,” reads an official note from the PM’s office.
- President Sergio Mattarella also sent a message to President Isaac Herzog, expressing “the strongest and most convinced condemnation” of the “perfidious attack against Israel’s security.”
- The aggression “distances the prospect of a lasting peace” between Israelis and Palestinians, he added.
Ties are ironclad. PMs Meloni and Netanyahu had met in Rome this past March, vowing to usher in a “quantum leap” in Italian-Israeli cooperation amid a general levelling up of relations across sectors. The two, who share a personal connection, had promised to organise a government-to-government summit in the coming months.
- The Italian head of government and her party, which has a post-fascist heritage, have also been polishing their credentials by standing firmly by the Jewish community in Italy and taking steps to address antisemitism.
Calling Lebanon, too.
On Monday, PM Meloni also spoke with her Lebanese counterpart Najib Mikati about the ongoing conflict. She said that Italy would continue contributing to Lebanon’s security and stability at this delicate juncture and called for a rapid de-escalation to avoid spillover effects that would bring about “incalculable consequences for the entire area.”
- Rome is a major contributor to the United Nations’s stabilisation operation in Lebanon, dubbed UNIFIL.
Antonio Tajani (and the Quint) get to work.
On Sunday, the Italian Foreign Minister announced he would travel to Egypt, a historic mediator between Israeli authorities and Hamas, to promote de-escalation and negotiate a solution. “No one wants another wide-ranging war to break out,” he said while also emphasising Israel’s right to defend itself.
