Netanyahu Closes $9B Energy Deal with Italy; Expected to Close $3B Arrow 3 Missile Deal with Germany Later This Week

By: Fern Sidman

During his recent trip to Italy, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni agreed on a deal that would make Italy an energy hub, as Israel will export gas to Europe via Italy. This historic agreement comes at time when Europe is seeking energy independence from Russia as it continues its bloody war against Ukraine.

Netanyahu was successful in closing the major deal with Italy for the $9 billion natural gas pipeline and in scheduled meetings with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin later this week, he will be closing a $3 billion arms sale in addition to another in London.

During his three days in Rome, Netanyahu met with political and business leaders.

In a brief statement following talks with Meloni, Netanyahu offered to forge deeper ties with Italy in an array of sectors, including water, cybersecurity and energy.

“Italy has said it wants to be a hub for the supply of energy for Europe. We think exactly that and we have gas reserves that we are now exporting and we would like to expedite more gas exports to Europe through Italy,” he said, according to a Reuters report.

Italy is committed to replacing its imports of energy from Russia in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine last year and wants to take advantage of this to become a major transporter of gas from North Africa and the Mediterranean, the report indicated.

Reuters also reported that Israel signed an initial agreement in November with Eni and TotalEnergies that allows the energy companies to start exploring for natural gas within the framework of a landmark maritime border deal with Lebanon.

“There is now a participation of Eni in our gas projects, but we think we can carry it to a much higher level,” Netanyahu said, according to the Reuters report. He added that Italian and Israeli ministers would meet in Israel in the coming months for bilateral talks.

“We will address perhaps a dozen areas of mutual cooperation to the benefit of Italy and Israel alike,” he said.

In a newspaper interview ahead of his trip to Rome, Netanyahu said that he planned to ask Meloni to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Reuters reported that he obtained immediate support from Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini.

“I believe the time has come for Rome to recognize Jerusalem as the ancestral capital of the Jewish people for three thousand years, as the United States did with a gesture of great friendship,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Italy’s la Repubblica newspaper.

Reuters reported that Salvini, who leads the rightist ruling League party, immediately backed Netanyahu’s call. “I firmly say yes to Jerusalem capital of Israel, in the name of peace, history and truth,” he posted on Twitter.

“We also want to accelerate the export of gas to Europe through Italy,” he said, adding that Rome could become the European hub for natural gas as it faces a growing energy challenge.

Meloni, who heads a right-wing coalition government, accepted Netanyahu’s invitation for an inter-governmental summit in Israel and confirmed Italy’s support for restarting peace talks to address the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, according to the Reuters report.

“We are ready to favor any political process and will do everything we can to help the restart of agreements between Israel and Palestine for a de-escalation,” Meloni said.​​​

In other news pertaining to Israel playing a major role on the world stage due to the experienced leadership of Netanyahu, Israel recently approved the export licenses for the possible sale of anti-drone jamming systems that could help Ukraine counter Iranian drones used by Russia during the war, Axios reported.

It’s the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine more than a year ago that Israel has approved defense export licenses for possible weapons sales to Ukraine, the report indicated. Israel has been careful not to give military assistance to Ukraine, fearing such a move could create tension with Russia and harm Israeli security interests in Syria.

On Tuesday, the Jerusalem Post reported that the German Defense Ministry will sign a Letter of Intent (LOI) to purchase Israel’s Arrow 3 missile defense system in approximately two weeks.

At the same time, while there was hope that the Bundestag might give its final approval this week or in the near future, a series of questions from the parliament has resulted in postponing final approval until the fall session, the JPost reported. Once the LOI is signed, the countries’ defense ministries and sectors can start laying more concrete foundations for the deal’s specifics ahead of final approval.

Earlier in March it was reported that the US approved the sale. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz met with President Joe Biden in Washington, according to a March 8th report on the Globes.co.il web site.

The JPost also reported that this was one of several preconditions for the sale to go through, but not the final step.

The report said that since then, the list of questions issued by the Bundestag have delayed the final approval, even as many of the preparations for effectuating the sale, presuming it goes through, will be able to continue in parallel. The JPost report added that in 2022, Germany’s attitude toward defense issues underwent a sea change following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Berlin’s understanding that if Moscow turned its military sights on Western Europe, that its current defenses would be highly inadequate.

The JPost reported that although there are high hopes now from multiple countries and within elements of Germany that the parliamentary committee will approve the purchase, many are holding their breath until the approval is given.

Besides the Arrow 3 missile defense system, which is designed to shoot down longer range ballistic missile threats, Germany has also purchased the IRIS-T missile defense system to shoot down shorter-range threats, according to the JPost report.  The IRIS-T has been used by Ukraine to shoot down cruise missiles and can also defend against other threats.

In September or October 2023, Israel will be delivering Heron drones to Berlin, according to German Air Force Spokesman Lt. Col. Matthias Boehnke who had spoken with the JPost. This is besides the missile defense issue.

This follows two to three years in which German air force personnel have been at the Israeli Air Force base at Tel Nof training with Heron drone simulators. In addition, the JPost reported that Boehnke also said that German Air Force Chief Lt. Gen. Ingo Gerhartz would travel to the Jewish state for Israeli Independence Day in April along with a joint Israeli-German air force flyover of the Knesset as occurred in 2021.

Germany has also joined Israel and others in purchasing Lockheed Martin’s F-35 aircraft, with an expected delivery date of 2026, to replace its ageing Tornado class aircraft fleet, as was reported by Globes.

Globes also reported that the Arrow 3 will be deployed alongside its existing US terminal high altitude area defense system (THAAD) with capabilities to protect against ballistic missiles, including missiles with unconventional payloads. German plans that were published last year will now move ahead for the procurement of Green Pine missile defense radar systems and several interceptor stations that will provide protection for large parts of Central Europe.