Italy halts defense agreement with Israel amid Mideast conflict, PM Meloni says
Italy has ended its defense agreement with Israel, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Tuesday, citing the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
“In consideration of the current situation, the government has decided to suspend the automatic renewal of the defense agreement with Israel,” she told reporters as she visited a wine festival in Verona.
Her announcement was downplayed in Israel, where the Foreign Ministry told The Times of Israel that Jerusalem has “no security agreement with Italy.”
“We have a memorandum of understanding from many years ago that never contained any substantive content,” the ministry said. “This will not affect Israel’s security.”
The 2003 memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed under then-Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi set the stage for cooperation in defense and scientific research. The MOU was ratified by Italy in 2005 and is renewed automatically every five years. It expired on Monday and hasn’t been renewed.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, responding to Meloni’s announcement, declared that Rome’s decision was “another embarrassing failure by the prime minister and the nonexistent foreign minister” — appearing to mock the performance of Gideon Sa’ar.
“Meloni is not a left-wing-progressive European leader; she is in the right-wing-conservative camp and understands the need to fight terrorism,” said Lapid. “The government has failed to advance Israel’s interests even with people who are supposed to be our friends and natural allies.
“We will return, we will establish a government, and Israel will once again be the country everyone wanted to love,” he declared, referring to this year’s Knesset elections.
With many Italians taking to the streets to denounce Israel over the last two-and-a-half years since the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre and ensuing war in Gaza, Meloni’s right-wing government has been under pressure over its position on the conflict.
In September, she said at the UN that Italy would back some European Union sanctions against Israel over the war in the Gaza Strip, saying that Israel’s actions had crossed a line “violating humanitarian norms, causing a slaughter of civilians.”
During the US-Israel war against Iran, Italy refused to allow some American aircraft headed to the Middle East on a combat mission to land at its Sigonella base, a source in its Defense Ministry and Italian media said.
This refusal became the target of US President Donald Trump’s ire on Tuesday, when he criticized Meloni for her unwillingness to help in the Iran war, in an interview with an Italian newspaper.
“I’m shocked at her. I thought she had courage, but I was wrong,” he said of his political ally in an interview with Italian daily Corriere della Sera.
The interview was published less than 24 hours after Meloni condemned as “unacceptable” Trump’s criticism of Pope Leo XIV, after the pontiff’s repeated calls for an end to the war in the Middle East.
Trump told Corriere that it was she who was “unacceptable,” alleging she did not care if Iran had a nuclear weapon.
Meloni’s announcement on Tuesday came as a European Citizens’ Initiative — an official way for citizens of member states to petition the European Union — calling on the EU to suspend its Association Agreement with Israel surpassed the required 1,000,000 signatories needed to mandate a formal review by the European Commission once the results are certified.
French citizens were the most supportive of the initiative, making up almost 379,000 signatures, followed by Italians (243,485) and Spaniards (121,037).
Ties between the EU and Israel — which are major trading partners — are governed by a so-called Association Agreement, in effect since 2000. It stipulates that the ties “shall be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles.”
Suspending the EU-Israel accord outright would require unanimity among member states — something diplomats have said is virtually impossible.
Serbia looks to boost defense ties with Israel
As Italy downgraded security ties, Serbia’s populist President Aleksandar Vucic announced plans Monday to jointly produce combat drones with Israel, in a bid to strengthen his country’s defenses and bolster exports of weapons and military equipment.
Last week, the Belgrade-based BIRN news website reported Serbia’s SDPR weapons manufacturer wanted to open a drone manufacturing plant with Israel’s Elbit Systems. Elbit would have a 51 percent stake, with Serbia holding the remainder.
Vucic said Serbia, which is seeking to bolster its drone manufacturing, “cannot make drones like Israel.”
“We will be doing it together, it will be half-and-half, 50-50, and… we will have the best drones in this part of the world,” he told reporters during a visit to a military unit in Belgrade.
He did not name the Israeli manufacturer, specify the value of investment, or say how soon the plant would be operational.
SDPR did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Serbia wants to modernize its army, loosely based on the ex-Soviet technology, with purchases from Europe, Israel and China.
In early 2025, Serbia bought Elbit’s PULS artillery systems and Hermes drones for $335 million, and in August 202,5 it also purchased long-range missiles, drones, and electronic warfare equipment for around $1.6 billion.
Belgrade also exports ammunition and other military equipment to Israel, Vucic said on Monday.
Belgrade also purchased France’s Rafale jet fighters manufactured by Dassault, aiming to replace its aging Soviet-made MIG-29 planes. It has bought cargo aircraft and helicopters from Airbus and Chinese missiles and drones.
Serbia is striving to balance a partnership with NATO and aspirations to join the European Union with its centuries-old religious, ethnic and political alliance with Russia and strategic ties with China.
