Four motions on Gaza in the Chamber of Deputies, Palestinian flags displayed. Conte: "It's genocide"

Angelo Bonelli , MP for the Green and Left Alliance, reads with emotion a very long list of names. These are the names of the children who died in Gaza. The session has on its agenda the discussion of the motions on Gaza , but the Chamber is half empty: two hours after the start of the work there are few opposition MPs present and only a dozen from the majority. At the end of the morning , the majority motion passed, as expected: with 166 votes in favor, 110 against and 8 abstentions . The motions presented by Pd-M5s-Avs and Azione were rejected. Part of the motion by Italia Viva was given the green light .

Bonelli himself presented the joint motion of the opposition (PD, M5S and AVS) on the situation in the West Bank and the Strip to the Chamber of Deputies. “We ask for justice, human dignity and for the government to say something in defense of these dead children,” Bonelli said. “And we ask that Meloni recall the ambassador and say yes to sanctions on Israel . Stand on the right side of history and do not turn your back on those who are killed, we are facing ethnic cleansing.” The opposition and majority deputies stood up. But Meloni had said at the last question time in the Chamber that she has no intention of recalling the Italian ambassador to Tel Aviv .

"We ask the Meloni government to do as Spain, Ireland, Norway and soon France have already done: fully recognize the state of Palestine". This was stated by PD secretary Elly Schlein , while giving the declaration of vote in the Chamber. We must, she added, "finally proceed to the affirmation of two rights, which must be recognized to two peoples". Israelis and Palestinians "must be freed from the trap of hatred in which they are imprisoned by the extremist government of Netanyahu on the one hand and Hamas on the other". We must reaffirm "the right of the Palestinian people to live in peace in a free and sovereign state and the right of the Israeli people to live in security, without anyone denying the State of Israel the right to exist".

The president of the M5s Giuseppe Conte once again used the word “Ge-no-ci-dio” during his speech. "There is an Italy, I say this to the young people who are here and who are watching us from home, that does not want to stain the tricolor with the blood of the Palestinians. I make a solemn commitment on behalf of my entire political community. We will fight so that these war crimes, this indelible insult against humanity, are persecuted and those responsible are punished as they deserve". Thus Conte. "We will ensure that the court of history does not forget and that ignominy is poured down on them and their accomplices as a perpetual reminder of their wickedness. Their blood-stained hands will find an Italy standing up that screams and acts, that does not accept the baggage that is not silent and complicit", he concluded.

Conte and the secretary of the Italian Left Nicola Fratoianni , deputy of Avs, with delegations of parliamentarians from the two parties participated in the pro-Palestine demonstration, "in favor of an end to the atrocities in Gaza", underway in front of the Chamber, while the motions are being discussed in the Chamber. The demonstrators, including many members of the associations that participated in the caravan that reached the Rafah crossing, chanted slogans such as "Murderers" and "Free Palestine". A large Palestinian flag was hung on the wall in front of Piazza Montecitorio. Among the posters: "Stop genocide", "Enough with the illegal occupation", "Cease fire" and "Auschwitz Gaza". On one, there was a photo of Senator Liliana Segre and the writing: "I support you, but how can you not shout against genocide".

A joint document was presented by Pd, M5S and Avs; another by Italia Viva; a third by the majority and a fourth by Azione.

Bonelli underlines in the chamber the absence of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani : "It is a bad signal at a time when there is a discussion of this kind in Parliament. Yesterday, Great Britain recalled the ambassador to Israel as we had asked Prime Minister Meloni during question time, a request that was instead rejected. Italy instead voted against the revision of the EU-Israel agreement". The only representative present for the government is Undersecretary Silli.

The joint motion by the Democratic Party, M5S and Avs commits the executive to "providing for the immediate suspension of the import of armaments from the State of Israel", to "support the adoption of sanctions at European level against the Israeli Government for the systematic violation of international law and international humanitarian law" and to "fully implement the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court".

The same document also calls for "recognizing Palestine as a democratic and sovereign State within the 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its shared capital, living in peace, security and prosperity alongside the State of Israel" and "urgently undertaking, in the appropriate international and European forums, every useful initiative aimed at the immediate interruption, as well as the firm condemnation of the 'Gideon's Chariots' Plan, the final act aimed at concluding a project of systematic annihilation of a population tormented by the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip".

The president of the 5 Star Movement, Giuseppe Conte, Rome (ANSA)

The majority motion that passed instead calls for "supporting, together with European and international partners, every attempt at a negotiated solution between Israel and Palestinian representatives - also starting from the plan prepared by the Arab countries - for the stabilization and reconstruction of Gaza and to permanently consolidate the cessation of hostilities, also with a view to relaunching a political process towards a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, based on the two-state solution, with Israel and a State of Palestine living side by side in peace and security, within mutually recognized borders".

The document calls for "working so that the parties, in compliance with international humanitarian law and international legality, reach an immediate cessation of fighting, the release of hostages still in the hands of Hamas, and the restoration of conditions that allow humanitarian assistance to the civilian population of Gaza."

Green and Left Alliance MP Marco Grimaldi with the Palestinian keffiyeh during the examination at the Chamber of Deputies of the motions on the situation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Rome, 21 May 2025. (ANSA)