Italy sold Israel $1.4 mn worth of arms and ammunition in Dec 2023 - foreign trade stats reveal

[This article is the second part of Italian weapons in Gaza, a series of investigations into Italian arms sales to Israel in the context of the ongoing onslaught on the Strip].

In December 2023, at the peak of Israeli bombardments on the Gaza Strip, Italian exports of "weapons and ammunition" reached €1.3 million (around $1.4 mn). The latest foreign trade statistics also shed light on other types of exports related to military aircraft.

On 12 March 2024, the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) released its latest foreign trade data, once again refuting the Meloni government’s reassurances regarding a complete embargo on arms and ammunition exports to Israel.

During the final quarter of 2023, Italy exported to Israel €2.1 million ($2.3 mn) in "weapons and ammunition". In December alone, Italian exports peaked at €1.3 million, compared with €233,025 ($254,153) in October and €584,511 ($637,490) in November. 

In response to the release of these figures, Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told Dire news agency that contracts for the sale of weapons to Israel have been “blocked since [the onset of the war on Gaza on] October 7”. Tajani emphasised that the supposed Italian arms blockade “has been recognised at the international level”. He went on to explain that “none of the products exported through contracts issued before October 7 could be used in Gaza. We are exemplary in respecting the rules.” 

Before being confronted with ISTAT data, Tajani had not admitted to the existence of arms sales through pre-October 7 contracts. He had told Italian daily Il Giorno that "Italy has suspended the sending of any type of weapons to Israel since the beginning of the Gaza war. Everything is blocked." He had also added that "since hostilities began, we have suspended all shipments of weapon systems or military material of any kind."

In Italy the purported suspension of arms sales to a belligerent country would require the ministry of foreign affairs or the ministry of defence to issue a specific decree. Altreconomia magazine had submitted a Freedom Of Information (FOI) request to the UAMA National Authority (the foreign ministry’s Unit for the Authorisations of Armament Materials), seeking to obtain access to military export data and the alleged suspension decree. But our request was rejected on national security and diplomatic grounds.  

While arming Israel, the foreign ministry is currently undertaking humanitarian initiatives for the Gaza population.  More than 31,000 Palestinians have been killed, and more than 70,000 have been injured since the beginning of the latest Israeli onslaught on the strip, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

The ISTAT figures indicate that in 2023 Italy exported "weapons and ammunition" to Israel with a total value of €13,707,376 ($14,922,586), a decrease compared with 2022, when it stood at €17,938,156 ($19,525,584). In both years, imports exceeded exports.

"While arming Israel, the Italian foreign ministry is currently undertaking humanitarian initiatives for the Gaza population. "

In December, the export of "weapons and ammunition" reached €1.3 million, more than triple that of the previous December. Of this amount, €373,821 ($407,169) pertained to "weapons, ammunition, and their parts and accessories" that have no military scope, and are therefore not obscured by ISTAT. This implies that nearly one million euros ($1,089,110) of the year-end exports from Italy to Israel - the discrepancy between the total figure and the "clear" materials - comprised weapons and ammunition with a military scope.

Obscured ISTAT data stands for weapons exported to armies, government entities and police forces according to law 185/1990. When data on sales of warfare weapons is instead accessible, it means that they were exported according to a different law (110/1975) and that, unlike weapons with a military scope, they can be sold to civilians.

Of the €373,821 ($407,175) not obscured, €280,641 ($305,675) pertained to the (non-military) merchandise category of "bombs, grenades, torpedoes, mines, missiles, cartridges, and other ammunition and projectiles, and their parts". This constitutes extremely sensitive material in the occupied West Bank, where armed attacks by settlers against Palestinians have been on the rise since October 7.

"Italy is not the only European country whose official arms embargo policy towards Israel is being questioned with foreign trade data.  Spanish online daily elDiario.es recently published an exposé on how the Spanish government has reportedly continued to export military material to Israel between November and December 2023."

Giorgio Beretta, an analyst at the Permanent Observatory on Small Arms (OPAL), highlighted an extremely significant piece of information emerging from the foreign trade stats. 

"In the merchandise category 'aircraft, spacecraft, and related devices' from October to December 2023, €14,800,221 ($16,111,891) worth of materials were exported to Israel, of which €8,795,408 ($9,575,656), over half, came from Varese”, said Beretta. “This province is where Alenia Aermacchi of the Leonardo Group is headquartered, the company producing the 30 military trainer aircraft M-346, which were selected by the Israeli ministry of defense in February 2012, and subsequently purchased and exported to train Israeli Air Force pilots. This is the same air force currently conducting airstrikes on the Gaza Strip", he added. 

Italy is not the only European country whose official arms embargo policy towards Israel is being questioned with foreign trade data.  Spanish online daily elDiario.es recently published an exposé on how the Spanish government has reportedly continued to export military material to Israel between November and December 2023.

The Spanish government, similarly to the Italian one, responded by saying that these exports had been licensed before October 7. But elDiario.es cited official regulations on arms exports that would allow licences to be revoked to prevent breaches of international law and human rights violations. 

This is an edited and abridged translation by Alba Nabulsi. Click here to read the original Italian-language investigation published by Altreconomia magazine on 13 March 2024.

Disclaimer: While The New Arab Investigative Unit independently fact-checked the datasets used in this investigation and expanded its content, all questions should be addressed to its original publisher Altreconomia.