Italy has traditionally been sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, but this attitude has weakened over the course of the years. One example was the inclusion in 2003 of Hamas in the EU terrorist list – due to its terrorist activities, rejectionist and anti-Semitic views –, an initiative actively promoted by then Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, under Italy’s EU Presidency. Next, in 2005, the Berlusconi government sealed a “Memorandum of Understanding for Cooperation in the Military and Defence Sectors”, thus agreeing to cooperate with Israel in defence, security and scientific research for both civilian and military purposes.
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