Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni Visits Lebanon
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni made headlines this week for traveling to Lebanon amidst the ongoing crisis there following Israel's recent invasion. Beginning in late September, Israel launched a series of deadly airstrikes across southern Lebanon, killing over 500 people and displacing thousands of others from their homes as they fled the attacks. Though the majority of those wounded and killed were civilians, the target of these attacks is Hezbollah, the Shia Muslim political and militant group. This group has maintained great significance in Lebanon, and has now become significant in the war with Israel citing the reason for its attacks as a means to help displaced citizens return north; however, Hezbollah has also been tied with aiding Hamas.
Israeli airstrikes have increased over the last three weeks with at least ten having been carried out since the start of the conflict, and with the civilian death toll simultaneously increasing. Currently, over 2,000 civilians have been killed, and thousands of others have been seriously injured. Among those injured were five United Nations Peacekeepers, which is what prompted Meloni’s visit to Lebanon as Italy contributes greatly to the peacekeeping forces there. Upon her arrival, she met with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri in a press conference to discuss the critical ongoing situation in Lebanon. During this press conference, Meloni took the opportunity to make quite clear of her position against Israel’s attacks on UN peacekeeping forces: "I consider targeting UNIFIL unacceptable, and I ask once again that all parties strive to ensure at all times that the safety of each of these soldiers is guaranteed."
Meloni’s visit to Lebanon and press conference with the Lebanese prime minister and parliamentary speaker are intriguing, especially considering that she has spent the majority of the past year maintaining a position of political support for Israel in its ongoing war against Hamas. In other ways, Meloni has made quite the name for herself in the scene of international politics. She is the most far-right leader that Italy has had since World War II, in the age of Mussolini and his famed fascist dictatorship. However, Meloni and the political party that she hails from, called Brothers of Italy, have been accused of neo-fascism themselves. She has adamantly promoted her extremely conservative policies, such as her anti-LGBTQ+, anti-abortion, anti-immigration, and anti-Islamist violence policies that have taken many aback.
Meloni’s visit to Lebanon, however, reveals how truly escalated the conflict in the Middle East has become. It is intriguing indeed, that someone so widely known for her far-right policies to the point that she has been accused of fascism, and that someone who previously showed political support for Israel, has now come out against Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon after visiting the country herself, the first world leader to do so. That a political figure such as Giorgia Meloni could stand up against recent actions taken by Israel in the ongoing conflict in an effort to prevent further war from ensuing is truly groundbreaking; perhaps other world leaders will finally formally recognize, for once and for all, that the conflict in the Middle East has gone too far.