Greater collaboration between Italy and Israel would represent a factor of "innovation and tradition".
This was stated by Minister Pinotti on the occasion of his visit to Israel, a country traditionally close to Italy with which there has long been a high level of collaboration in the field of defense, as well as the common interest in creating an area of peace and lasting security in the Middle East.
Themes that emerged during the meeting with his counterpart, Moshe Ya'alon, to which Minister Pinotti highlighted the Defense's full willingness to consolidate the ongoing collaboration between the armed forces of the two countries in order to help improve the level of interoperability also in relation to sharing the same geo-strategic scenario.
In the long meeting the two ministers also discussed current crisis scenarios in Syria, Libya, Lebanon, the Italian commitment in the anti-Daesh coalition and, more generally, bilateral cooperation.
In particular, Ya'alon stressed the use by the Israeli air force of the Italian training aircraft (flight simulator) M346, not excluding a possible extension. Minister Pinotti, underlining how the two countries share a series of regional problems, said "Europe and the whole world are now beginning to experience security problems that Israel has been dealing with for a long time: they can therefore better understand what is happening. in the area". At the same time, he underlined the Italian fears for the phenomena of terrorism in Libya not far from the Italian coast and more generally in the area: fears shared by the Israeli minister who said he was concerned about the "strengthening of the Iranian presence in Syria".
On this occasion, the dicastery's president recalled the long-standing and entrenched Italian military presence in Israel, with participation in EU, multinational and bilateral missions, aimed at monitoring the security situation, encouraging dialogue between the parties, and encouraging the training of real Palestinian capabilities in the areas of border control and, above all, police forces (with the MIADIT Palestine mission).
The importance of strengthening cooperation between the two countries was also at the center of the meeting, held in Tel Aviv, with some exponents of Israeli society, entrepreneurs, university professors, authorities.
The visit to the museum of the memory of the Shoah in Israel Yad Vashem, in Jerusalem, where the minister placed a crown in curtain of remembrance in memory of the Fallen.
In Tel Aviv, the minister also visited the "Israeli Aerospace Industries", the main industrial reality in Israel's aeronautical sector.
Subsequently, Minister Pinotti went to the Knesset (Israel's single-chamber parliament) where he met with the president of the foreign-defense commission of the State of Israel, Tzachi Hanegbi and some of its members.
