Students occupy Italian defense firm Leonardo’s Turin headquarters to protest Gaza war
Anti-Israel activists say Italian weapons firm is complicit in alleged ‘genocide;’ Italy’s defense minister slams demonstrators as ‘dangerous subversives’
MILAN — Around a hundred students occupied Leonardo’s Turin headquarters to denounce what they say is the Italian defense group’s complicity in Israel’s military operation as it battles against Palestinian terror group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The students, who unfurled a Palestinian flag from the roof of Leonardo’s offices, said the company was supporting Israel by providing remote technical assistance and spare parts to Israel’s air force.
Leonardo declined to comment.
Images released by the students showed them in Leonardo’s offices waving Palestinian flags and carrying spray cans. Outside they hung banners on the buildings saying “no arms to Israel” and accusing the group of complicity in “genocide.”
They also clambered on top of a plane in the grounds of the company’s headquarters. Video broadcast by the Corriere outlet showed police clashing with the protesters at the plant.
Israel rejects accusations of genocide in Gaza, says it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
Blitz di attivisti pro Palestina nella sede di «Leonardo» a Torino: «Complici del genocidio di Gaza» https://t.co/PtC586gNSD
— Corriere Torino (@CorriereTorino) November 13, 2024
Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto condemned the protest, saying on X that the students were “destroying and defacing” the offices where an “important meeting with the staff of the defense ministry” was taking place.
“These people must be treated for what they are, dangerous subversives. Criminals have no political color, they are just criminals,” he said.
Crosetto said in March that Italy had continued to export arms to Israel, despite government assurances last year that it was blocking such sales following the Israeli army’s campaign in Gaza triggered by the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks on Israel that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
In March, the minister said only previously signed orders were being honored after checks had been made to ensure the weaponry would not be used against Gazan civilians.
Through its US subsidiary, Leonardo provides Israel with aircraft and owns an Israeli radar company called RADA.
The company has sold to Israel trainer jets and utility helicopters. It is also involved in the manufacture of parts for the F-35 jet flown by the Israel Air Force.
Under Italian law, arms exports are banned to countries that are waging war and those deemed to be violating international human rights.
I pro Pal occupano la Leonardo: “Complice del massacro a Gaza”. Crosetto: “Delinquenti eversivi” https://t.co/lzFSXaFco1
— La Stampa (@LaStampa) November 13, 2024
In July, anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian protesters blocked the entrance to a Leonardo factory in Edinburgh, Scotland, local outlet The National reported at the time.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 42,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 18,000 combatants in battle as of November and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
