EU rebukes Israel over dossier on pro-Palestinian protests in Italy: ‘Against all interference’

Brussels – The veiled criticism of Israel for internal interference in the affairs of an EU member state, and the implicit reproaches to the Meloni government for having allowed the “spying” on pro-Palestinian demonstrators. The dossier on the demonstrations in Italy on September 22 has become a case, complete with a parliamentary question by Mimmo Lucano (AVS/The Left) to the European Commission, which cannot help but distance itself from what happened.

The event dates back to September, when, in the wake of the European general mobilisation, strikes and demonstrations were called in Italy to criticise the actions of Israeli forces in Gaza in response to the offensives by Hamas. The Israeli government compiled a dossier on the demonstrations, with all the information on meeting places and expected participants. Four pages with the names of associations, collectives, and their origin and provenance. For Lucano, all this represents “a serious outside interference​ in the domestic affairs of an EU Member State, as well as potential violation of Italian sovereignty and of the fundamental rights enshrined in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, and in particular the freedom to express opinions and to demonstrate.”

In her response, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, reiterates the cardinal principles underpinning the EU’s functioning and the European Commission’s stance, which takes the form of a mild-toned condemnation. “The Commission opposes any attempted foreign interference, threats or intimidation on the sovereign territory of Member States,” she says, without openly mentioning Israel. While to the Italian government, Kallas reminds that “Freedom of assembly is a fundamental right enshrined in Article 12 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, which, alongside freedom of expression and freedom and pluralism of the media enshrined in Article 11, form the basis for a free, democratic and pluralist society.”

Kallas’s emphasis does not seem to be accidental, since, at least according to Lucano’s thesis, Israeli authorities allegedly collected and disseminated information on demonstrations organized in Italy in support of the Palestinian population, with the help of the Italian authorities. Meanwhile, Kallas, in recalling the foundations of the EU, delivers a reprimand to the governments of Rome and Tel Aviv.