Since October 7, 2023, Kais Saied’s rhetorical stances on developments in Palestine have been as radical as any Arab head of state. Explicitly rejecting the two-state solution, the Tunisian president has called for a Palestine \u201cfrom the river to the sea\u201d, amongst other things. Alas, if Saied\u2019s words have been bold, his actions have not. The exceptional closeness he has maintained to Meloni’s Italy throughout the genocide\u2014a government whose support for Netanyahu is beyond dispute\u2014speaks to this well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Giorgia Meloni was most recently received at the Palace of Carthage on July 31. The visit was announced only a few hours before it took place, raising a flood of questions about its purpose. The official statement put out by the Tunisian president vaguely refers to discussions on strengthening bilateral cooperation in areas such as \u201ctransport, health, agriculture, and energy.\u201d However, the primary focus of the get-together appears to have centered on two concerns: migration (particularly the repatriation of irregular migrants from sub-Saharan Africa) and the ongoing genocide in Gaza. On migration, the two Presidents hold a great deal in common. On Gaza, contrarily, where the current Italian government maintains the country\u2019s traditional Atlanticist position (one non-reflexively backing Israel), a discordance would seem to exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consider, after all, that two weeks before Meloni’s visit to Tunis, Italy voted against the proposal to suspend the European Union\u2019s association agreement with Israel. In doing so, Rome caucused with a number of far-right governments, including Viktor Orban\u2019s Hungary. Italy has also hedged against enforcing arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. While Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosett said his country would enforce the warrant, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said the accused officials were welcome in Italy. For his part, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has intimated that \u201cimmunities (will<\/em>) be respected.\u201d1<\/sup><\/a> Questions remain as to whether Italy has been exporting weapons to Israel throughout the genocide as well.2<\/sup><\/a> Minimally, Italy has allowed the United States to use air bases located on Italian territory to convey weapons onto Israel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And throughout the past two years, Giorgia Meloni has offered constant public backing for Israel\u2019s campaign. On October 8, 2023, Meloni called Netanyahu and assured him that \u201cItaly stands with Israel.\u201d Less than two weeks later, she traveled to Tel Aviv to meet with Netanyahu at the headquarters of the Israeli army. There, she declared that Hamas has \u201cthe will to eliminate the Jews\u201d and has committed \u201can anti-Semitic act.\u201d During the December 12, 2023, vote in the UN General Assembly for a ceasefire in Gaza, Italy abstained, too. Nor has much changed since. As mentioned, in July 2025, Rome mobilized against those trying to suspend the EU’s association agreement with Israel. Italian leadership explained this by saying it favors dialogue; the reality is that they recognize ideological affinity in Netanyahu\u2019s coalition and act of solidarity. While Europe\u2019s far-right was historically known for its virulent anti-Semitism, Netanyahu’s strategy for years has been to absolve past crimes in exchange for unconditional support for Israel, as Sarra Grira lays out.3<\/sup><\/a> Recently, Meloni has joined the chorus of European voices denouncing the current situation in Gaza, particularly as pertains to the killing of journalists. However, she remains opposed to the recognition of a Palestinian state, which she calls a \u201ccounterproductive\u201d move, in her words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One might have thought that Meloni\u2019s unceasing support for Israel as it conducted genocide would present a problem for Kais Saied. After all, the Tunisian President has long cast himself as a champion of the Palestinian cause. While running for President in 2019, Saied said that normalization with Israel would constitute \u201chigh treason!\u201d. The assertion made headlines across the Arab world. Saied also stood firmly in solidarity with Palestine amidst the condemnations ringing out on October 7, 2023. The official communiqu\u00e9 released by Carthage that evening stated that “\u201cTunisia stands unconditionally with the Palestinian people…who have the right to reclaim all their land and create a state with Al Quds as its capital.\u201d At Arab and Muslim summits, Saied has regularly expressed reservations about the so-called two-state solution, too. (Certainly, Tunis\u2019 refusal to join South Africa’s complaint against Israel before the International Court of Justice points to the hollowness in the President\u2019s words.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n If clearly discordant on Palestine, however, all available evidence suggests that Saied prioritizes other issues in dealing with Meloni. During Meloni\u2019s July visit to Tunis, for instance, though the Tunisian President did not drop the topic of Palestine from the agenda, he did not place it front and center. Indeed, where Gaza was discussed with great intensity during the visit of Mossaad Boulos\u2014diplomatic advisor of Donald Trump\u2014it was touched on lightly enough with Meloni that the Italian Presidency\u2019s official statement on the visit made no mention of it at all (For the record, Carthage\u2019s press release from the visit records that Saied \u201creiterated Tunisia’s consistent position in favor of the Palestinian people’s right to establish a fully sovereign state on the entire land of Palestine.\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the end of the day, Carthage recognizes that Rome is one of its most important diplomatic allies. Meloni helped Saied through the storm created by his racist remarks on sub-Saharan migrants in February 2023. It is through the leader of (post-fascist) Fratelli d’Italia party efforts that a comprehensive memorandum of understanding was reached between Brussels and Tunis in July 2023, too. And Meloni undoubtedly plays a central role in western capitals staying relatively quiet on Carthage\u2019s judicial campaign against the domestic opposition. Flipside of this, Saied\u2019s attendance of the Italy-Africa Summit in January of 2024 lent some credibility to Meloni\u2019s attempts at refashioning Europe\u2019s (colonial) relations with Africa. Herein lies the brass tacks of the partnership between Saied and Meloni. Given their shared interests, nothing that happens in Gaza will be capable of driving the pair apart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Photo credit: European Commission (Dati Bendo), “Mark Rutte, Ursula von der Leyen, Kais Saied, and Giorgia Meloni, 2023, P061638-976557”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1<\/a> Staff writer, \u201cL\u2019italie n’arr\u00eatera pas Benjamin Netanyahu malgr\u00e9 le mandat de la Cour p\u00e9nale internationale\u201d RTBF Actus (<\/em>January 15, 2025).<\/p>\n\n\n\nSaied for a Palestine \u201cfrom the river to the sea\u201d<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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