Defence Minister breaks Italy's silence on Israel: 'driving a people from their land' is a 'humanitarian catastrophe'

 ROME – Speaking in an interview with La Stampa, later reported by Il Fatto Quotidiano, Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said “I think that the occupation of Gaza and certain serious acts in the West Bank mark a qualitative leap that requires decisions to be taken that will force Netanyahu to think. And this would not be a move against Israel, but a way to save that people from a government that has lost its reason and humanity. We must always distinguish governments from states and peoples, as well as from the religions they profess. This applies to Netanyahu, it applies to Putin, whose methods are now dangerously similar.”

 This is a remarkable statement from Crosetto, who on the one hand breaks the Italian government's substantial silence, except for the ritual condemnation of the killing of civilians and violence in the West Bank; and on the other hand evokes effective action by Western countries against the Tel Aviv government when he talks about “decisions that force Netanyahu to think.” Remarkable, indeed, given that the Italian government has so far refused even ‘trivial’ sanctions.

 Minister Crosetto told La Stampa: “What is happening is unacceptable. We are not facing a military operation with collateral damage, but the pure denial of the law and the founding values of our civilisation…We are committed to humanitarian aid, but in addition to condemnation, we must now find a way to force Netanyahu to see reason,” he reiterated.

 “It is one thing to liberate Gaza from Hamas,” adds the government representative, “and another to liberate it from the Palestinians. The former can be called liberation. Driving a people from their land, on the other hand, is quite another matter, and the term used seems to me to be entirely inappropriate.”

 He then addresses the issue of recognising the Palestinian state: “That state does not exist, and recognising a state that does not exist risks becoming nothing more than a political provocation in a world that is dying of provocations. A path must be built to implement the historic UN resolution of ‘two peoples, two states’, defending Palestine's right to exist and have a state and Israel's right to live in security, which means that Hamas terrorism must be eradicated at the same time.”

 For the Minister of Defence, the Israeli government “is not willing to engage in dialogue because it has taken a fundamentalist and integralist line. The legitimate defence of a democracy in the face of a terrible terrorist attack is no longer convincing,” he continues. “We are faced with a different kind of project: the conquest of foreign territory, taking into account a humanitarian catastrophe.”

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