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<\/a><\/p>\nDemocratic Party Secretary Elly Schlein in the Chamber of Deputies in Rome on April 9, 2026.(Massimo Di Vita\/Archivio Massimo Di Vita\/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Now, Meloni is at odds with Trump and Netanyahu, her fellow conservatives in the United States and Israel, and getting a boost from Schlein, a liberal whose father is an American Jew.<\/p>\n
The causes of the breach: the U.S.-Israel war on Iran, and the pope.<\/p>\n
Schlein threw her support between Meloni after Trump attacked her for defending Pope Leo XIV, who said on Friday that \u201cGod does not bless any conflict\u201d and that Christians should never be on the side of those who drop bombs. The criticism triggered a strong response from Trump, who said on Sunday that the Catholic leader was \u201cterrible on foreign policy\u201d and accused him of \u201ccatering to the radical left.\u201d<\/p>\n
That did not go over well in Italy, where about three-quarters of people are Catholic. In a statement Monday, Meloni came to Pope Leo\u2019s defense, calling Trump\u2019s remarks \u201cunacceptable,\u201d and adding, \u201cThe Pope is the head of the Catholic Church, and it is right and proper that he call for peace and condemn all forms of war.\u201d<\/p>\n
The break between Trump and Meloni marked a notable public rift between the two leaders, as Meloni has long been one of Trump\u2019s closest political allies in Europe. The rift deepened the next day, when Meloni announced that Italy had ended its defense agreement with Israel, marking another significant shift in the right-wing government\u2019s international relations.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn \u200blight of the current situation, the government has decided to suspend the automatic renewal of the defense agreement with \u200bIsrael,\u201d Meloni told reporters in Verona, adding, \u201cWhen there are things we don\u2019t agree \u2060with, we act accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump wasn\u2019t happy that Meloni had rebuffed his pressure to join the Iran conflict and said as much on Wednesday on Fox News.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s been negative,\u201d Trump said. \u201cAnybody that turned us down to helping with this Iran situation, we do not have the same relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n
Enter Schlein and a rare moment of cross-party unity in Italy.<\/p>\n
Schlein has led Italy\u2019s Democratic Party since 2023. She has said she is \u201cvery proudly the daughter of a Jewish father,\u201d the American-Italian scholar Melvin Schlein, and that she has faced antisemitism even though she herself is not Jewish.<\/p>\n
Her father grew up in New Jersey and lived on Kibbutz Nahal Oz, one of the communities ravaged on Oct. 7, 2023, during the 1960s. He has joined his daughter in criticizing Netanyahu but told an Italian paper that while she believes in a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he does not. The relative of Jews murdered in the Holocaust, he also has said he is concerned about rising antisemitism in Europe \u2014 and that while he generally shares his daughter\u2019s politics, he is concerned that some on the left have joined with the right in adopting antisemitic ideas.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, speaking in the Italian Chamber of Deputies, Schlein, said she wished to express her \u201cstrongest condemnation\u201d of Trump\u2019s \u201cattack on Meloni for having dutifully expressed solidarity with Pope Leo.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also emphasized her own opposition to the Iran war.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to reiterate that Italy is a free and sovereign country, and our Constitution is clear: Italy repudiates war.\u201d Schlein said during her speech to a standing ovation. \u201cNo foreign head of state can allow himself to attack, threaten, or disrespect our country and our government. We are adversaries in this chamber, but we are all Italian citizens and representatives of Italians, and we will not accept attacks or threats against the government and our country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schlein had welcomed the suspension of the defense agreement and called on Italy to \u201cstop obstructing\u201d the suspension of the Association Agreement between Israel and the European Union, which governs trade and political relations between the entities.<\/p>\n
This week, a petition by the European Citizens\u2019 Initiative to end the agreement reached the required 1 million signatures needed to trigger a formal review by the European Commission.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe, along with other progressive forces, have been calling for this for some time, because the dignity of this country is also measured by its respect for international law,\u201d Schlein said.<\/p>\n
The Israeli Foreign Ministry dismissed the suspension. While Italy is the third-biggest arms exporter to Israel, following the United States and Germany, it only accounted for 1.3% of Israeli arms imports between 2021 and 2025, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have no security agreement with Italy. We have a memorandum of understanding from \u200cmany years \u2060ago that has never contained any substantive content,\u201d the ministry said in a statement. \u201cThis will not affect Israel\u2019s security.\u201d<\/p>\n