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 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........

© The Times of Israel