Italian PM reported to ICC over Gaza genocide

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on October 7th that she had been referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged complicity in genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, the Middle East Eye via Reuters reported.

At an interview with the television company RAI, Meloni revealed that she, Defence Minister Guido Crosetto and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani had all been referred to the ICC. She also said the head of the Italy-based Leonardo defence group, Roberto Cingolani, was possibly also referred to the ICC.

On September 22nd, Italians in more than 80 towns and cities, including Florence, Bologna and Rome, staged a strike in solidarity with Palestinians; strike action, which disrupted traffic and port activity, was coordinated by trade unions.

The strike action was denounced by Meloni as “shameful,” and she declared that the violence that took place against police officers had “nothing to do with solidarity” and would bring “consequences for Italian citizens.”

Italian opposition party members expressed frustration over Meloni’s apparent reluctance to openly condemn Israel’s war on Gaza in parliament.

Italy has also resisted recognising a Palestinian state, a decision at odds with other European nations like France and the UK, which formally recognised a Palestinian state.

The Italian government was previously condemned by the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, for allowing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to fly through the country’s airspace, en route to Washington.

On June 7th, an estimated 300,000 people protested on the streets of Rome over the Meloni government’s alleged complicity in Israel’s war on Gaza; banners seen at the demonstration included one that said “[s]top the massacre, stop complicity.”

Meloni, who is the leader of the Brothers of Italy party, was elected as Prime Minister of Italy in 2022. The Brothers of Italy stated that they support “the right to defend and promote classical and Judeo-Christian historical and cultural roots,” as an “important ideological premise that aims to improve relations between the Italian far right and Jewish communities and Israel.”

This stance has previously been interpreted as Meloni being an ally of Israel, not least because of her explicitly anti-Islamic viewpoints, as she is also an opponent of immigration from the Maghreb.

Israel’s war on Gaza was declared a genocide by a UN Commission of Inquiry on September 16th, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu being accused of orchestrating a campaign of genocide.

Middle East Eye via Reuters, RAI, Maghrebi.org