Over 20,000 people have backed a petition initiated by a group of workers at Italian arms manufacturer Leonardo’s Grottaglie factory demanding the weapons maker sever all ties with Israel.

“With this petition, which starts from some of Leonardo’s workers and which is extended to the entire civilian population, we firmly refuse to be complicit in human rights violations and international crimes, we reject the idea that our acts and our ingenuity can contribute to an entire economy that guides, provides and enables the genocide of the Palestinian people.”

Read the original petition here:

https://www.change.org/p/non-in-mio-nome-non-con-il-mio-lavoro-770c2714-9a6f-4e15-90c1-3460cb480142

English translation below:
Petition open to the entire civilian population

We demand an immediate end to war supplies to Israel by Leonardo S.p.A. and subsidiaries, including the termination of existing agreements and the supply of dual-use articles, as well as the suspension of all trade agreements and investment relations with Israeli institutions, start-ups, universities and research bodies directly or indirectly involved in Israeli military operations against the Palestinian population.

To the:

• EU Council (foreign/common security policy – CFSP)
• High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas
• President of the Italian Republic Sergio Mattarella
• President of the Council of Ministers Giorgia Meloni
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs – UAMA Section (Unit for the Authorization of Armament Materials)
• Ministry of Economy and Finance
• Dr. Roberto Cingolani – CEO of Leonardo S.p.A.

The genocide and ethnic cleansing taking place in Palestine, perpetrated by Israel against the Palestinian population, are an objective and undeniable crime, taking place under the indignant eyes of the world.
In this dramatic context, Leonardo S.p.A., one of the leading European arms manufacturers, guarantees the supply of weapons systems and military technologies to the State of Israel.

Despite the growing complaints from human rights organizations, international institutions and civil society and although, as stated by Leonardo CEO Cingolani in a recent interview with Corriere della Sera, no new export license has been authorized to Israel by the UAMA, Leonardo, with the approval of the Italian Government, the company maintains solid commercial and military cooperation relations with Israel, contributing in fact to the continuation of the war operations that systematically affect the Palestinian civilian population who are deprived of any defence capacity, in obvious violation of international humanitarian law.

In addition, Law 185/1990 also cited by Cingolani (regulation “New rules on the control of export, import and transit of armament materials”), approved by the Italian Parliament in July 1990 after a major mobilization of civil society, is undergoing changes that have already been approved by the Senate in March 2024 and have been under discussion in the Chamber since February 2025.

If the changes already approved by the Senate are confirmed by the House, important transparency mechanisms will be reduced such as the annual report to Parliament, therefore the decision-making power on the subject will increasingly pass to the Government, removing it from Parliament.

The arms trade cannot be considered an economic activity like the others, but must be subordinated to ethical criteria, foreign policy and compliance with Article 11 of the Constitution, which states that “Italy repudiates war as an instrument of offence against the freedom of other peoples and as a means of resolving international disputes.”

On 16 September 2025, the UN Commission of Inquiry, in response to a long investigation launched under the mandate of the UN General Assembly, recognizes the genocidal intent in the conduct of the Israeli authorities (“Legal analysis of the conduct of Israel in Gaza to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide” A/HRC/60/CRP.3) according to the 1948 Genocide Convention, identifying four of the five acts defined as genocide:

• Killing of members of the group: the act of killing members of a particular national, ethnic, racial or religious group.
• Serious injuries to the physical or mental integrity of group members: this includes torture, cruel treatment, and serious physical or psychological harm inflicted on group members.
• Intentional submission of the group to living conditions involving its total or partial physical destruction: creating living conditions (e.g., deprivation of food, water, medicine or other resources) that make it impossible for the group to survive.
• Measures to prevent births within the group: measures taken to sterilize or prevent the emergence of new members of the group, such as forced sterilization or other birth control policies.

The Commission stressed that there is direct evidence of genocidal intent by Israel, including public statements by Israeli leaders and a model of military conduct consistent with that intent.

The report also recommended the disruption of arms supplies to Israel and the initiation of legal proceedings against those responsible, including Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Herzog.

The EU Common Position 2008/944/CFSP establishes the criteria for the control of arms and military equipment exports: it was adopted in December 2008 and defines the binding conditions that Member States must comply with when authorising the export of war material to third countries. The main criteria of this position include:

• Respect for human rights: Weapons must not be exported to countries that are involved in serious human rights violations or where there is a real risk that weapons could be used for such violations.
• Final destination: Weapons must not be transferred to countries that can use them for purposes of military aggression against other states, or to subvert a legitimate government.
• Impact on regional conflict: No arms must be exported to countries that can fuel regional conflicts or increase tensions in unstable areas.
• Internal security and stability: Exports must also be assessed in relation to the internal stability of the recipient country and its ability to ensure the safety of arms.
• Compatibility with international commitments: Exports must not violate international commitments, such as sanctions, non-proliferation treaties or disarmament agreements.

In the light of the International Commission, we believe that the points mentioned in the Common Position of the EU 2008/944/CFSP are not currently respected, so Leonardo S.p.A. must terminate any relationship with Israel, in order also not to risk incurring serious future sanctions.

The continuation of relations with Israel by Leonardo S.p.A., in addition to violating the points of the Common Position of the EU 2008/944/CFSP, also violates:

• The Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) which requires States to assess the risks related to the use of arms they export and to ensure that they are not used to commit genocide, war crimes, or other serious human rights violations;
• The Code of Conduct on Arms Exports, adopted by the European Union to establish the basic principles for the responsible export of arms by Member States. This code recommends not exporting arms to countries where there are serious risks of armed conflict, or where weapons can be used to violate human rights or to support oppressive regimes.

As stated by CEO Cingolani, Leonardo S.p.A. cannot alone proceed to any unilateral withdrawal from a contract in place as this would constitute an offence that would lead to legal litigation. Therefore, institutional coverage in this sense is required, both to find a measure that allows to suspend even the old licenses, and by exercising a moral suasion as feared by Cingolani himself.

We therefore demand that:

• The EU Council activates a binding embargo that obliges all companies to revoke all existing contracts in Israel.
• The national authority of UAMA, the office of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, retroactively revokes every specific license in place to all Italian companies that provide dual-use products to Israel.

The legal consequences for Italy go far beyond any sanctions. The continuation of arms and dual-use material exports to Israel, in the light of the decisions of the International Court of Justice and in a context of systematic and serious international crimes, exposes Italy to serious legal responsibility, including:

• Violation of the obligation to prevent genocide (art. The Convention for the Prevention and Suppression of the Crime of Genocide, 1948): Italy, after the precautionary order of the International Court of Justice of 26 January 2024, is aware of the risk of genocide in Gaza and has a legal obligation to stop arms exports to Israel to prevent such a crime.
• Violation of the IGC opinion of 19 July 2024 (Advisory Opinion): The IGC said that the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories is illegitimate and imposed an obligation of non-assistance, prohibiting cooperation that could help maintain the occupation.
• Complicity in genocidal acts (art. 16 Draft on the Articles on the responsibility of States for internationally unlawful acts, 2001): Italy risks being considered complicit in the commission of genocide, since arms supplies to Israel could facilitate genocidal acts, violating the principle of complicity as outlined by the International Court of Justice (Judgment Bosnia v. Serbia, 2007).

Italy could be held accountable internationally for such violations.

In the report “From economy of occupation to economy of genocide” by the United Nations Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories (A/HRC/59/23 published on 16 June 2025), Leonardo S.p.A. is not only mentioned in relation to the F-35s, for the M-346 and the AW119Kx with related training, for the OTO Melara 76/62 Super Rapid 72mm naval guns and for the subsidiary DRS, but also in collaboration with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev through a joint laboratory on artificial intelligence and data science, sharing research directly related to attacks against Palestinians.

Connected to this issue, the report presents a devastating analysis of the role of cybersecurity technologies in building what is called the “genocide economy.”

The report identifies the technology sector of surveillance, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence as a key pillar of the Israeli occupation system (together with the military, construction, finance and academic sector), with technology companies providing “surveillance infrastructure, drones, biometrics, cloud computing, and AI-led targeting systems,” helping to progressively automate Palestinian repression and genocide and turn Gaza into a live weapons test zone.

The last three years have seen an unprecedented acceleration in Italy-Israel cooperation and a consolidation of the strategic partnership, which has led the Italian defence giant to sign agreements with Israeli institutions in the field of cybersecurity, quantum technologies and autonomous systems.

Leonardo S.p.A. has in fact signed in 2023 two strategic agreements with the Israeli Innovation Authority (IIA) and with the Ramot Tel Aviv University, focusing precisely on cybersecurity, quantum technologies and autonomous systems; the agreements include the scouting of Israeli startups for the acceleration program Business Innovation Factory of Leonardo, with particular attention to the areas “Simulation & Gamification” and “Cybersecurity & Networking”.

The adoption of systems developed in contexts of colonial occupation based on the logic “Maximum Land with Minimal Palestinians”, is strongly incompatible with European democratic values and with the code of ethics adopted by Leonardo S.p.A.
Finally, several digital freedoms organizations, including EDRi and Access Now, have urged the European Commission to review Israel’s data adequacy status according to GDPR through six areas of concern: deteriorating the rule of law in Israel, insufficient legal framework for data protection, national security and surveillance exemptions, territorial issues in the occupied Palestinian territories, inadequate EU review process, and violations of international law.

For all these reasons, we consider the strategic partnership Italy-Israel not only unscrupulous but also without a future, in the light of the aforementioned areas of concern regarding the processing of data. We therefore call for Leonardo to immediately suspend all trade agreements and investment relations with Israeli institutions, start-ups, universities and research bodies directly or indirectly involved in Israeli military operations.

With this petition, which starts from some of Leonardo’s workers and which is extended to the entire civilian population, we firmly refuse to be complicit in human rights violations and international crimes, we reject the idea that our acts and our ingenuity can contribute to an entire economy that guides, provides and enables the genocide of the Palestinian people.

For these reasons, moreover, we consider inadequate the choice of Leonardo S.p.A. to question the permanence of the Aerostrutture Business Unit within the Leonardo S.p.A. perimeter through the search for partnerships with foreign sovereign wealth funds, with the risk that Leonardo S.p.A. would in fact become a company focused exclusively on the military sector.

It is essential, also by virtue of the ongoing social and economic changes, that Leonardo S.p.A. continues to invest in the civil aviation sector, located entirely in the Mezzogiorno d’Italia, through concrete investments and that look at the future development of a highly strategic and truly lasting asset for the entire Italian industrial system, unlike the limited time horizon that the military business would entail.

Petition starters:
We are a group of workers of the Leonardo plant in Grottaglie who are asking for a halt to war supplies to Israel by Leonardo S.p.A. and subsidiaries. NOT IN MY NAME, NOT WITH MY WORK

(Automated translation checked by native Italian speaker and edited by MENA Solidarity editors)