TRAVEL BANS ON Israeli ministers undertaken by Ireland and other EU member states must be followed up by trade sanctions against Israel, Foreign Affairs Minister Helen McEntee has said.

Speaking ahead of the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Strasbourg, McEntee said the “credibility of the EU” is now at stake in terms of the response of member states to the actions of the Israel. 

Earlier this month Ireland far-right Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich from entering the country, and McEntee was asked today about a lack of unanimity among other nations in doing do the same. 

The United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway are among the non-EU nations who have banned them with Spain and Slovenia among the other EU nations that have.  

McEntee said: “Ireland has obviously issued a travel ban on both ministers, as have many other member states, but we have been consistent in our position, and in particular what I have consistently called for, along with other member states, is that we would focus on a ban in trade.”  

EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas also confirmed this morning that “many member states” have proposed that sanctions Ben-Gvir. 

Kallas said this would be discussed today, but added: “We don’t have the necessary unanimity that we need for this decision.”

Trade

Ireland has long been pushing for the suspension of trade as part of the EU-Israel Association Agreement and McEntee said today that this needs to be voted on and agreed at the next European Council meeting.

“I think other member states are now starting to see that this cannot be allowed to continue with impunity, and so I would be urging colleagues today, those that have not perhaps taken that decision, to push for the Commission to put more on the table,” McEntee said.

“We do have the trade association agreement on the table, the possibility to suspend that, but I believe we need to make sure that we have an action that would ban trade completely with the illegal occupied territories, that can be done through trade,” she said.   

“It is completely unacceptable that Israel continues to take the actions that it has with impunity,” McEntee added.