Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Tuesday that her government has halted the automatic renewal of a military Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Israel, as Italy has become increasingly critical of Israel’s wars and killing of civilians.
“In light of the current situation, the government has decided to suspend the automatic renewal of the defense agreement with Israel,” Meloni said.
According to Haaretz, the MoU includes the exchange of military equipment and cooperation on military research, though an Italian source told the Israeli newspaper that Meloni’s announcement reflected a policy already in place.
The source said that Italy halted military cooperation with Israel shortly after October 7, 2023, though according to reports from last year, Italy suspended weapons exports to Israel but was still fulfilling previous arms deals. Meloni has been under significant pressure from her opposition and from Italian citizens to cut ties with Israel.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani visited Lebanon on Monday, where he slammed Israel’s “unacceptable attacks by Israel against the civilian population” and said it called for the avoidance of “another escalation like the one in Gaza.”
When asked if Italy would take a similar step toward the US, the source speaking to Haaretz said that Italy was still assessing the impact on Iranian civilians in the US bombing campaign in Iran, which started with the bombing of an elementary school, which slaughtered more than 100 children.
Also on Tuesday, President Trump attacked Meloni, saying he was “shocked” that her government didn’t support the US-Israeli war against Iran. His comments came after Meloni denounced his attack on Pope Leo XIV over the US-born pontiff’s stance on the conflict.
“I find President Trump’s remarks about the Holy Father unacceptable,” Meloni said in a statement. “The Pope is the head of the Catholic Church, and it is right and proper that he call for peace and condemn all forms of war.”
In response, Trump said, “She is the one who is unacceptable because she doesn’t care if Iran has a nuclear weapon and would blow up Italy in two minutes if it had the chance,” though there was no evidence either before this year’s war or the June 2025 US-Israeli war against Iran that Tehran was seeking a nuclear bomb. Trump also accused the Italian leader of lacking “courage.”
