Italy’s Meloni Cuts a Course on Gaza That’s More Pro-Israel Than Most of the Rest of the European Union Members

Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, certainly did not mince words in her address to the 80th UN General Assembly. She warned that the world may be slouching toward a global cataclysm. She proffered course corrections that will test alliances and friendships.Yet what does the prime minister’s worldview actually portend? In deploring the fraying of the international order established by the United Nations in 1945, the president of Italy’s Council of Ministers condemned Hamas’s barbarism and Russia’s aggression. She called for an end to the suffering of the Palestinian people.The important point to mark, in respect of Signora Miloni’s view, is that it was Hamas — not the Jewish state — that unleashed the dogs of war upon Gaza’s beleaguered residents. The death toll is Gaza is beyond horrifying. Entire hospitals, schools, and civilian centers have been eradicated.Yet in an interview with CNN, a senior Hamas official, Ghazi Hamad, declared: “I think this is a golden moment for the world to change history.” He gleefully defended Hamas’s attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023. No wonder Italy’s deputy premier, Matteo Salvini, has likened Hamas to the Red Brigades.Signora Meloni excoriated the Global Sumud Flotilla, which “has brought no benefits for the Palestinian people.” After Israel’s interception of the leftist armada, she scorned two trade unions calling for a general strike on Friday. Said she: “A long weekend and the revolution do not go together.”Although critical of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s conduct of the Gaza conflict, Signora Meloni differs from the official policies adopted by President Emmanuel Macron of France and Britain’s prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer. As the Times of Israel reported, Signora Meloni has struck a more balanced tone.“It is Hamas that could bring Palestinians’ suffering to an end, by immediately releasing all the hostages. It is Hamas that seems to want to prosper on the suffering of the people it claims to represent,” she said, while stressing that Israel must remove itself from “the trap of this war.”Whereas both France and Britain have officially recognized a state of Palestine, Signora Meloni maintains that Italy’s recognition of a Palestinian state is contingent on two inalienable preconditions: “The release of all Israeli hostages and Hamas giving up any role whatsoever in the government of Palestine, because those who started the conflict cannot be rewarded.”Leftist critics of Signora Meloni’s maintain that the premier, by not towing the performative party line vis-à-vis recognition of a Palestinian state, has positioned herself on the wrong side of history. While critical of Signora Meloni’s UN address, the Times of Israel stated that “if the Italian left were in power, the situation would likely be significantly worse, potentially aligning Italy closely with the current position in Spain, if not beyond.”Signora Meloni understands that even if Hamas is forever subtracted from the equation, the weak and corrupt Palestinian Authority will be the go-to government. It must be remembered that the PA has not held an election in Gaza or the West Bank in nearly 20 years.According to Decode39, Signora Meloni has “struck a calibrated tone: support for Israel’s right to defend itself, criticism of disproportionate civilian suffering, and endorsement of a two-state solution — echoing both European sensitivities and Washington’s evolving posture.”Although Prime Minister Meloni may no longer be invited to dinner at Bibi Netanyahu’s home at Caesarea, she remains a staunch friend of the Jewish state. As the Jerusalem Post noted: “Meloni leads a right-wing government that has been one of Israel’s strongest allies in the European Union.”As for Russia, Signora Meloni excoriated this “permanent member of the Security Council,” which has been deliberately “violating the integrity and political independence of another sovereign state, with the will to annex its territory.”In citing Saint Francis — “the most Italian of saints, after whom the city where this organization was born is named” — Signora Meloni reaffirmed her vision for Italy’s role in promoting peace and prosperity across the globe. Moreover, her address to the General Assembly will lend greater credibility to President Trump’s Middle East peace plan.From Italy’s Mattei Plan for African development to an accord halting the scourge of human trafficking to the true grit of standing up to an oppressor, she believes that “the tough battles are reserved only for those who have exemplary courage.”

Italy’s Meloni Cuts a Course on Gaza That’s More Pro-Israel Than Most of the Rest of the European Union Members

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