When the far right meets Zionism: Italy’s post-fascist journey to modern politics

This article interrogates the long-standing yet underexplored alignment between the Italian far right and the State of Israel from the post-war era to the present. Drawing on declassified intelligence files, judicial records, oral testimonies, and discourse analysis, it demonstrates that Italian far-right formations–ranging from the Movimento Sociale Italiano (MSI) to Ordine Nuovo (ON) and the Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari (NAR)–cultivated ideological, political, and operational links with Israel. These ties encompassed parliamentary support, clandestine intelligence cooperation, and paramilitary training in Lebanon. By situating the Italian case within wider European trajectories, the study challenges the prevailing thesis that contemporary far-right pro-Zionism derives exclusively from Islamophobia. Instead, it shows that such positions emerge from deeper historical patterns of anti-communism, radical Westernism, and admiration for ethnonationalist militarism. The article concludes that the Italian far right’s support for Israel constitutes not a contingent or expedient realignment, but rather a durable cornerstone of its geopolitical imaginary–one that illuminates both the movement’s transnational entanglements and its remarkable aptitude for ideological recalibration.