Sanctioning Israel: Italy between Leonardo SPA and Piano Mattei

24 Jul 2026 Sanctioning Israel: Italy between Leonardo SPA and Piano Mattei

Posted at 12:51h in CAHRA, Human rights, Weapons by Daniela Carosio

The European Union’s foreign policy toward Israel is currently defined by internal division regarding the 2000 EU-Israel Association Agreement. As more countries pass sanctions on Israel independently, the call for a united EU approach grows. An important such attempt happened In September 2025, with the EU commission proposing to suspend trade-related provisions and bilateral aid of this agreement. If this proposal would have passed, goods from Israel would have lost preferential access to EU markets, being charged the same taxes as any other third country imports. Suspending the 2000 trade agreement would have also meant cancelling EU commission bilateral support to Israel, including financial allocations for 2025-27 of (on average) 6 million a year, and institutional cooperation costing roughly 14 million over the defined timespan

Italy’s Prime Minister Georgia Meloni (Fratelli d’Italia) is known to have a personal relationship to Benjamin Netanjahu and for supporting Israel in the EU in the last years ^[5].

The Italian government’s position has changed in language over time, from a state visit to Israel in 2023, where Meloni assured “unconditional support” to Israel’s right to defend itself ^[6] to the UN General Assembly in 2025 where Meloni said Israel crossed a line, “violating humanitarian norms, causing a slaughter of civilians” ^[7]. Also, in terms of policy choices, Italy has been carving its own path, disconnected from a unified EU approach^[8]. Significantly, Italy announced a halt to arms exports in 2024, which applied only to new orders, meaning existing ones would still fulfil, resulting in the manoeuvre being perceived as a ‘weak move’ ^[9]. Instead of doubling down on the reduced arms exports, in June of the following year (2025), the Meloni government renewed its military memorandum with Israel for five years despite criticism that it could constitute complicity in war crimes^[10]. In April of this year (2026), Italy took another signalling step, suspending its defence cooperation agreement with Israel. Again, this was seen as mostly representative move^[11], with the defence cooperation agreement being more of a political framework than actionable plans, and being only suspended, not cancelled outright ^[12]. Importantly, this move came only after Israel’s attacks on Lebanon.

Public opinion in Italy broadly does not match the political stance of the government. This showed exemplarily in the EU citizen’s initiative in 04/2026 which gathered signatures for another policy proposal for sanctioning Israel in the Union, after the original 2025 proposal failed to garner sufficient votes. In this citizen’s initiative, Italians were among the highest participating ^[13]. Additionally, public shows of support for Palestine surged in 2025 in Italy with protests and demonstrations and support from major labour unions ^[14] ^[15].

Only three countries supplied major arms to Israel in 2020–24: the United States, Germany and Italy (1% of total, light helicopters and naval guns)^[16]. This way, the Italian state, whose ministry of Economy and Finance owns 30.2% of the defence company Leonardo SPA, remains deeply entangled with Israeli defence interests^[17]. In February 2023, Leonardo SPA signed two agreements, one with the Israeli Innovation Authority and the other with Ramot Tel Aviv University for start-ups in the field of defence and cybersecurity^[18]. In 2022, Leonardo SPA’s American subsidiary DRS merged with Israeli listed company RADA. Their radar systems are allegedly being used by Israel in its attacks on Gaza, but as they are listed in the US, this is officially outside of the scope of Italian law^[19]. Italy is also a partner in the F-35 programme (manufacturing airplanes used in Gaza) for which it produces components through Leonardo SPA’s UK subsidiary, Leonardo UK^[20]. Leonardo UK has also received 8 UK military export licenses to Israel since 2021, possible as the company holds an value-uncapped open individual export licence (OIEL). Leonardo subcontracts around 3 billion dollars for its work on the F-35, mostly in Italy, so even if Leonardo UK sits legally outside of Italy, this impacts Italian workers. Leonardo SPA is also reported to be an implementing partner of the Mattei Plan, which Human Rights group EuroMed Rights called “border control disguised as aid” and criticised for fuelling displacement through delivering arms to conflict areas ^[21]. Regarding its military activities, on 1st October 2025, the Italian government received complaint filed with the ICC by a Palestinian Human Rights group accusing Giorgia Meloni and others including Leonardo SPA representative Roberto Cingolani of complicity by supplying arms to Israel ^[22]. Leonardo SPA and Meloni denied all accusations ^[23].

Italy, like some other EU countries including Spain and France, has troops on the ground in Lebanon, causing a strategic geopolitical interest in the stability of the region. As of March, this year, there were about 2000 Italian soldiers stationed in the Gulf ^[24]. For them, the Israeli attacks are an unwelcome disruption to stabilisation efforts ^[25]. Tensions were visible in April 2026, as the Italian government accused Israeli forces of firing warning shots at a convoy of Italian peacekeeping forces.

Italy’s strategic interest in the region is connected to economic and energy access, manifesting in the Piano Mattei, which aims to make Italy a bridge between energy production in the MENA region and consumption in Europe^[26]. The idea is older, but Giorgia Meloni made it a central part of her policy agenda as prime minister. It has been criticised by a group of African NGOs for reinforcing inequalities and its overarching goal of expanding Italy’s access to fossil gas from Africa ^[27]. ENI is a key partner in the Piano Mattei’s implementation, and fittingly their 2023-26 strategic plan identifies MENA region as an area with great opportunities for fossil fuel exploration^[28]. ENI holds a 35% stake in Lebanon’s offshore Block 4 and 9, alongside TotalEnergies (35%, operator) and QatarEnergy (30%), close to the disputed border with Israel^[29]. The consortium announced starting exploration on a new block (8) in this field in January 2026, despite disappointment in exploring block 9^[30]. ENI also holds licenses granted by Israel in 2023 to zone 6 adjacent to the Leviathan oil field, basically right across the border from their block 8^[31]. As such, for Italy, Israeli military actions in Lebanon are viewed as a direct disruption to regional stabilization and energy exploration efforts, warranting political signals such as suspending its defence cooperation agreement with Israel.

Ultimately, Italy’s position is defined by a growing tension between increasing political condemnation of Israeli military actions and a deep industrial entanglement maintained through state-owned defence company Leonardo SPA. The government’s Piano Mattei further complicates this relationship through ENI’s high-stakes energy exploration projects close to both Israeli and Lebanese maritime borders. Thus, Italy’s recent diplomatic shifts and the suspension of its defence pact act as symbolic signals to mitigate regional disruption, even as underlying defence and economic ties remain functionally intact.

^[1] https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_25_2112

^[2] https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2026/05/eu-israel-trade-agreement/

^[3] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/21/spain-slovenia-ireland-push-eu-to-debate-israel-pact-
suspension

^[4] https://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/israel/2025/09/israel-250917-european-
commission01.htm

^[5] https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2024/05/once-ally-italys-meloni-sours-israels-netanyahu-
repositions-gaza

^[6] https://www.governo.it/en/media/president-meloni-meets-prime-minister-netanyahu-state-israel/
22031

^[7] https://www.timesofisrael.com/meloni-tells-un-italy-will-back-some-eu-sanctions-on-israel-war-has-
crossed-line/

^[8] https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2026/05/eu-israel-trade-agreement/

^[9] https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2026/04/28/lxex-a28.html

^[10] https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2026/04/28/lxex-a28.html

^[11] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr71184ex91o

^[12] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/15/why-has-italys-giorgia-meloni-suspended-a-defence-
pact-with-israel