by Giovanni Giacalone
The Italian firm Fincantieri recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Qatari Barzan Holdings to jointly develop a short-range anti-drone radar. The program deal, named “Omega 360”, is worth approximately $108 million, with the first units expected to be produced by the end of 2026.
The signed deal follows a recent meeting in Rome between Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, where they discussed security and defense partnerships. In addition, the two leaders mentioned ongoing discussions on the establishment of an Italian military logistics compound in Qatar and the promotion of exports in the region.
In January 2024, the Italian PM Giorgia Meloni met with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul. As Al Arabiya News exposed at the time, Italy and Turkey are aiming to boost the value of trade between their countries to $32.7 billion by 2030. Additionally, the defense deals between the two countries could include Italy’s Leonardo SpA, which works on aerospace and security globally.
Qatar is a major customer of the Italian defense industry. Italian shipbuilding company Fincantieri reached a $4.3 billion deal with the Qatari government in June 2016 to build ships for its navy. The deal also included support services and the construction of a dock. In August 2017, Qatar purchased seven navy ships from Italy for a cost of $5.4 billion.
In March 2018, a major deal was cut between Qatar and the previously cited Leonardo SpA, with Doha’s purchase of 28 NH90 helicopters along with flight simulators. Shortly after the deal, Qatar and Italy conducted joint naval exercises in the Persian Gulf.
All this, while in the meantime, the Italian government stated to have ceased weapons shipments to Israel immediately after the October 7th massacre. The measure was announced by Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani in January 2024 and recently reiterated by Giorgia Meloni during a speech in Parliament. On this occasion, Meloni went even further and claimed:
“I want to point out that the Italian position of the complete blocking of all new licenses is much more restrictive than that applied by our partners, France, Germany and the United Kingdom: these partners continue to operate also for new licenses on a case-by-case basis, we have blocked everything“.
Why is the Meloni government so determined to cut off arms trade with Israel, while at the same time it is implementing deals with countries that support Hamas, such as Qatar and Turkey?
As Swiss expert and journalist Stefano Piazza wrote in an article entitled “The Emir of Qatar’s tour in the Europe turning its back on Israel”, published on the website Setteottobre (October 7th):
“More business on the Rome-Doha axis while Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, mother of Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, praised assassinated Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in a post on X, shortly after Sinwar was killed by Israeli forces operating in Gaza: «The name Yahya means ‘he who lives’. They thought he was dead, but he lives. Like his namesake, Yahya bin Zakariya, he will continue to live and they will be gone». This is the true face of Qatar that has its hands stained with the blood of the victims of October 7, 2023 and Italian politicians should also realize this but perhaps that is asking too much”.
Regarding the blocking of the weapons supply to Israel, there are a few thoughts to be made. In the last decade, Italy was responsible for about 5% of Israel’s military procurement, as reported by Walla. Therefore, a very small percentage which makes the whole delivery block irrelevant to Israel’s security. According to the Israeli Ministry of Defense, among the ceased shipments are 30 Alania Irmaki M-346 jet trainers, and seven AW119 helicopters from the Italian company Leonardo, in addition to the training of the IAF’s new helicopter pilots. Yes, correct, Leonardo SpA, the one cited for Italy’s potential defense deal with Turkey.
Fincantieri and Leonardo SpA, have both been quoted by several Italian media outlets due to the relations that the current Italian Minister of Defense Guido Crosetto held with them before joining the Meloni government; all this, led to debates on whether or not Crosetto could have bumped into a conflict of interest.
As explained in an article by Michele Manfrin for L’Indipendente:
“Guido Crosetto has been a member of the Republic from 2004 to today, with a period outside of Parliament in the 17th legislature, that is from 2014 to 2018. During this period, in addition to continuing his career as a manager and entrepreneur, he was appointed, in 2014, President of AIAD (Federation of Italian Companies for Aerospace, Defense and Security), which is a member of Confindustria. Furthermore, in 2020, Crosetto was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of Orizzonte Sistemi Navali, a company controlled by Fincantieri and Leonardo”.
Guido Crosetto recently made the Italian headlines in Italy when, after the October 10th incident at a UNIFIL military post in south Lebanon where two Indonesian peacekeepers were slightly wounded, he immediately accused Israel by saying that the attacks “could constitute war crimes” and asked for an explanation because “it was not a mistake.”
Crosetto described the shooting as “intolerable,” lodging protests with his Israeli counterpart and Israel’s ambassador to Italy. He also added: “My intention is to let spaces of peace prevail, not to let the idea pass that there could be a continuous war“. In addition, Crosetto stated that “Italy does not take orders from Israel”.
Italy may not take orders from Israel, but it surely does cut contracts with Israel’s enemies.
However, the relations that Italy maintains with Qatar and Turkey lead way back, before the Meloni government, and they could be rooted in economic and intelligence policies that go beyond elections. This means that, regardless of who is elected, these are the lines to follow.
For instance, in October 2018, Matteo Salvini, who was Minister of Interior at the time, visited Doha to participate in the MILIPOL international exhibition on homeland security and civil defense. In December 2022, the Italian newspaper La Repubblica published an article exposing relations between Qatar and former Italian left-wing PMs such as Matteo Renzi and Massimo D’Alema (the latter well known for his relations with Hezbollah and for being photographed in Beirut, walking arm in arm with Hussein Haji Hassan in 2006).
Investment relations between the two countries particularly began to improve in 2015 with the assistance of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who discussed possible investment opportunities with Emir Tamim bin Hamad at the November 2015 United Nations Conference in Paris. Negotiations over an overinvestment in Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena between Renzi and Tamim bin Hamad began two months later but were halted after Renzi resigned as Prime Minister, as reported by Sole24Ore newspaper.
Another aspect has to do with foreign policy, since Italy’s presence in Libya and Somalia has been closely related to the Islamists and those Middle Eastern countries supporting them. For instance, as exposed in November 2020 by Israeli intelligence analyst Oded Berkowitz, Italy provided the Islamist-led GNA government in Tripoli with diplomatic, intelligence, and counter-terror assistance, side to side with Turkey, while Qatar provided the GNA with economic support. The chart shared by Berkowitz came from the US AFRICOM data.
Another interesting issue is the one concerning the liberation of Silvia Romano, an Italian charity worker kidnapped in Kenya in 2018 by al-Shabab terrorists and taken to Somalia. In May 2020, Romano was freed under unclear circumstances, and a photo of her wearing a Turkish special forces vest sparked controversies, with some Italian media accusing the Rome’s government of having relied on Turkey. The Italian authorities claimed that Romano was recovered by their intelligence and that the photo was fake. However, the Turkish media reported otherwise, publishing the photo and stating that its intelligence (MIT), was primarily involved in the operation.
In conclusion, the October 7th massacre has inevitably brought down the masks and the time for choices has come. If Italy seriously wants to “create spaces of peace”, as the Italian Defense Minister, Crosetto, claims, then Italy must review its relations and alliances with Middle Eastern actors who openly support terrorism and Islamist extremism. Italy cannot claim to promote “peace” while at the same time aligning itself with those who support terrorism and cause destabilization in the region. Suspending the shipment of weapons to a friendly country, Israel, which is simultaneously attacked on multiple fronts, while implementing defense agreements with states that support these organizations attacking Israel is an unfriendly gesture.
It seems quite clear that the issue goes well beyond the succession of elected governments, regardless of the political colors and positions, and is instead deeply rooted in the Italian economic and intelligence apparatus.