Roberto Cingolani, CEO of Leonardo SpA -a company active in the aerospace, defense, and security sectors-responded in an interview with "Corriere della Sera" to accusations of complicity in the Gaza genocide due to its arms sales to Israel. In recent days, several protests have been held in front of the company's offices. The ceo specified which international contracts the company is currently honoring and its critical relationships with companies such as Drs and Rada. The accusation stems primarily from a report recently presented by Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories. The document details the role of several companies in supporting the Jewish state. Specifically, Albanese argued that the company is violating the ban on arms exports to countries at war (law 185/90) due to Israel's use of F-35 aircraft produced by Leonardo. Cingolani then explained: "It is said that since we helped build the F-35 fighter jets sold around the world -including to Israel- and since some of them are being used in this horrendous conflict, then we are complicit in genocide. Of course, we participate in consortia for the construction of many defense technologies and platforms. But to say that we are co-responsible for genocide seems to me to be an unacceptable stretch". Furthermore, according to the ceo, since the outbreak of the conflict, no further authorizations have been granted for export licenses to Israel -required by law 185-.

Cingolani then clarified the two contracts Leonardo currently has with Israel: these are agreements for the maintenance of helicopters and unarmed training aircraft, dating back to 2012 and 2019, respectively, which are required by law to be honored. "The ministry of foreign affairs and the Uama (Unit for the Authorization of Armaments Materials) are examining whether it is possible to find a provision that would allow us to suspend the old licenses along the lines of Law 185", the ceo said, explaining that terminating them independently would open a legal dispute and therefore international coverage is necessary.

Regarding the accusations regarding Leonardo's collaboration with Israel in military radar, Cingolani specified that the company holds a majority stake in Drs Technologies, a manufacturer of defense electronics systems, but that the latter, being American, "must follow the indications of its government", "in total operational autonomy" according to the jurisdiction of the country in which it is based and not in relation to law 185. According to the ceo, the situation is similar for Rada, a radar manufacturer, which "operates under the jurisdiction of the Israeli government, even though it is controlled by Drs".

"We can't do anything about these issues except exert moral suasion at the institutional level. Obviously, this situation worries me greatly", the ceo stated. "If we could consolidate the groups in a European spirit, it could probably help avoid situations like this", but even in this case, a positive outcome is unpredictable because "no one knows if one European country might go to war with another tomorrow".