Will Meloni give in to the pro-Palestine mob?

Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni has been one of the few European leaders not to have lost her head over the war in Gaza. Not only has she refused to give credence to the baseless claim of an Israeli ‘genocide’, she has also made recognising Palestinian statehood conditional on Hamas surrendering. After all, it was Hamas that started the current war, and that has ruthlessly prolonged it, with its refusal to return the hostages it captured on 7 October 2023.

Yet Meloni has never been under more pressure to abandon Israel and back Palestinian statehood unconditionally. Last week, Italy went pazzo over Gaza. Protests and riots were sparked by Italy’s refusal to join other Western countries in recognising a Palestinian state. Weathering these protests will be the biggest test of her leadership to date.

The protests kicked off last Monday, when a number of Italy’s powerful unions called for a day of strikes across the country, impacting as many as 75 cities and towns. Among the unions protesting the ‘inertia’ of Italy in recognising Palestine was the Italian General Confederation of Labour, by some way Italy’s biggest union. Consequently, Italy was effectively shut down for a day. In the port city of Genoa, ships and containers were blocked on the unlikely grounds that they were being used to smuggle weapons into Israel, stifling trade and tourism.

The biggest protests took place in Milan and Rome. In Rome, at least 20,000 people gathered outside the city’s Termini station. In Milan, the number was estimated to be closer to 50,000. Clashes at the main train station, Milano Centrale, injured as many as 60 police officers in the process.

The protests have put serious pressure on Meloni. Indeed, there are already signs that she may be buckling. The first hint of this was in her government’s response to the Global Sumud Flotilla, which has Greta Thunberg on board. Last week, the flotilla’s communication system was temporarily disabled by ABBA music, a prank many suspect to have been carried out by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). As two Italian MPs are part of this woke armada, Meloni’s defence minister, Guido Crosetto, has ordered an Italian naval ship to give safe passage to the boats. Israel has promised to intercept the ship before it reaches Gaza. This raises the question: what does the Italian government intend to do then? Engage in a naval battle with Israel in the Mediterranean?

Then, there was Meloni’s address to the UN General Assembly on Wednesday. ‘It is Hamas that started the war’, she began by saying. ‘It is Hamas that could end the suffering of the Palestinians by immediately freeing all the hostages. It is Hamas that seems to thrive on the suffering of the Palestinian people.’

Then, she turned her ire on Israel, which she accused of ‘violating humanitarian norms’ and massacring civilians. She said the IDF’s actions against Hamas were not proportionate. And she also promised to recognise Palestine, if two conditions are met: the release of all hostages, and the assurance that Hamas would play no role in government.

Yes, Meloni has not gone as far as other European leaders in unilaterally recognising a Palestinian state, but the change in her tone since the protests is undeniable. As recently as July, she seemed to rule out recognising ‘something that doesn’t exist’. Clearly, nothing has changed on the ground since then that would make a Palestinian state more viable. No borders have been agreed and no leadership has emerged that is committed to peace.

Like so many other European countries, Italy’s policies on Gaza are being driven by domestic politics and international diplomatic pressure, rather than the realities of the war or geopolitics. That even Meloni appears to be cracking, despite holding firm against the Israelophobes for so long, is a deeply worrying sign.

Dominic Standish lectures for the University of Iowa. He is the author of Venice in Environmental Peril? Myth and Reality and lives in the Veneto region of Italy. Visit his website here.