Zeynep ConkarA group of leading Italian jurists has formally urged the Giorgia Meloni government to terminate its longstanding defence agreement with Israel, warning that the renewal of the pact would implicate Italy in severe violations of international and constitutional law.
The legal notice, submitted on May 21, targets a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Italy and Israel in 2003, which governs bilateral military and defence cooperation.
Unless one of the parties acts to end it, the MoU is set to automatically renew for another five years in exactly four days, on June 8, 2025.
The signatories — 10 experts in constitutional and international law, including Ugo Mattei, Veronica Dini and Luigi Piccione — are represented by the Piccione Law Firm in Bari, Italy. They have addressed their appeal to several key state institutions, including the Presidency of the Republic, the Prime Minister’s Office, and the Ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs.
“The atrocities happening in Gaza are so appalling that any human being feels compelled to act to stop the monsters who keep supplying weapons to the murderers of innocents. (Prime Minister Giorgia) Meloni and the ministers of the Italian government are among those monsters. This is why we took this action,” Professor Ugo Mattei, a prominent lawyer and one of the signatories, tells TRT World.
Mattei, who is Professor of International and Comparative Law at the University of California, Hastings, and a professor of Civil Law at the University of Turin, Italy, argues that the MoU with Israel violates treaty-based and customary international law, humanitarian law, and Italy’s constitution – particularly Article 11, which repudiates war as a means of resolving international disputes.
“The memorandum with Israel has long been problematic, especially since a 1990 law prohibits arms trade with countries involved in active war zones. Now, with the fully genocidal turn of the Zionist regime, it has become unbearable,” Mattei says.
The warning also cites Article 21 of the constitution, which guarantees citizens' right to information, and Article 10’s reference to international human rights.
“Genocide is now rampant and has been recognised by the International Court of Justice. Italy is also obligated to cooperate with international institutions in the development of international law under Article 10. All these arguments are fully detailed in our brief,” he says.
Beyond the legal violations, one of the most serious concerns raised by the signatories is the opaque nature of the MoU. Although the agreement entails financial commitments and defence cooperation, including arms trade, military training, and contracts involving private defence firms, it remains largely shielded by military secrecy.
The jurists also place their legal action in a broader historical context, citing Israel’s ongoing genocidal campaign in Gaza. They highlight past MoU renewal periods that coincided with major Israeli wars on Gaza (2008-09 and 2014), as well as the violent suppression of the Great March of Return (2018-2019).
Each of these operations led to mass Palestinian casualties and was condemned by international rights organisations.
In the current context, the lawyers cite over 60,000 victims in Gaza since October 2023 as evidence of ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Renewing the MoU under these conditions, they argue, would effectively place the Italian state in violation of its legal obligations under the UN Charter, the Geneva Conventions, and other international treaties.
Legal ultimatum
The legal warning issued by Italian lawyers comes amid growing international scrutiny over military ties with Israel, as global outrage mounts over Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Tel Aviv has killed at least 54,470 Palestinians since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Israel resumed its attacks on March 18, breaking a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal that had held since January, and killed 4,201 people while injuring nearly 12,652 others.
Some 11,000 Palestinians are feared buried under rubble of homes flattened by Israeli attacks, according to Palestine's official WAFA news agency.
Experts, however, contend that the actual death toll significantly exceeds what the Gaza authorities have reported, estimating it to be around 200,000.
The signatories have given the Italian government a 60-day period to begin the process of terminating the agreement. They’ve also demanded to be informed of the officials responsible for handling the procedure.
Should the government fail to act, the lawyers have vowed to pursue all legally available remedies.
“The Nazis at least tried to hide the Shoah; Israel isn’t even pretending – there’s not even a hint of hypocrisy, which would at least suggest a sense of limits. With this move, we aim to ensure that Italy’s highest officials, including (President Sergio) Mattarella, cannot claim that they didn’t know when the public eventually demands accountability,” says Mattei.
“They cannot say they were unaware that they were clearly violating both Italian and international law by being accomplices of the Zionist state. It’s not just a moral disgrace; it’s a legal one. It may not be much, but as lawyers, this was something we felt morally compelled to do.”
