The Embassy of Italy in Tel Aviv has lodged a formal Note Verbale of protest with the Israeli Government regarding the incident involving two Carabinieri officers serving at Italy’s Consulate General in Jerusalem. Upon the instructions of Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, the Italian Ambassador to Tel Aviv is filing protests with various Israeli authorities, announcing direct intervention by the Italian political authorities.
The two officers were on an inspection visit yesterday to prepare for a mission of EU Ambassadors to a village near Ramallah, in Palestinian National Authority’s territory. The two officers were threatened by an armed man wearing civilian clothes, presumably an Israeli settler, who pointed an automatic rifle at them. The military officers (with passports and diplomatic badges, and a car with diplomatic license plate) were “interrogated” by the civilian. Following the rules of engagement they were given, they avoided responding violently to the initial threats. The man put them on the line with an unidentified caller, who stated they were inside a military zone and should leave. Based on a check with COGAT (Israeli military command for the Occupied Palestinian Territories), it has been confirmed that there is no military zone at that location.
The officers returned safely to the Consulate and reported the incident to the Embassy and the Carabinieri chain of command.
Considering the severity of the incident, the Ambassador in Tel Aviv has been instructed to submit a Note Verbale of protest to the government in Jerusalem at the highest level, involving the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, COGAT, the IDF General Staff, the police, and the Shin Bet (the Israeli security service responsible for the Palestinian Territories). The Foreign Ministry already plans to take further steps to protest at the highest political level.
