‘Our land is not for sale’: Italian activists challenge Israeli-linked solar projects

Italian activists challenge Israeli-linked solar projects Italian activists in a small Tuscan town have been protesting against a planned agrivoltaics park after tracing its ownership to Shikun & Binui, an Israeli company with ties to Israel's military. The campaign by Diritti In Palestina began in early September, when activists investigating the project in the town of Ribolla traced its ownership to the Tel Aviv-based group, which operates across real estate, energy and infrastructure. Shikun & Binui Energy intends to build five solar power plants across Tuscany, a region in central Italy.

To do so, the group has established five companies in Milan as special-purpose vehicles (SPVs), structures that make the projects’ ultimate ownership harder to trace. In documents seen by Middle East Eye, the land lease contracts are formally signed by one such company, SPV Energy 3. The activists' investigation found that it had no employees and share capital of just €2,500.

‘Our land is not for sale’: Italian activists challenge Israeli-linked solar projects Submitted by Stefania D'Ignoti on Mon, 09/21/2026 - 10:01 Farmers and campaigners raise concerns over suspicious foreign capital entering Italy’s renewables sector Italians protest against Shikun & Binui's agrivoltaics park project in Ribolla, central Italy (supplied/MEE) Off Italian activists in a small Tuscan town have been protesting against a planned agrivoltaics park after tracing its ownership to Shikun & Binui, an Israeli company with ties to Israel's military. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); “This suspicious element is what prompted us to advance verifications, considering that there have been several Israeli investments in our region lately, especially in the renewable energy sector,” Alessandra Bertero, 72, co-founder of Diritti in Palestina, told MEE. When the project was publicly announced last May, Bertero and four other activists used several freedom of information requests to uncover a pattern of Shikun & Binui operating across several EU countries under different European branch names, including SPV Energy 3.

In September 2025, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights added the company to its blacklist over its illegal activities in the occupied West Bank and occupied Golan Heights. The solar park project has drawn strong…