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LAST UPDATE | 16 Dec 2024
IRELAND WILL NOT have its views silenced, Taoiseach Simon Harris has said.
The Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced yesteday that the country will close its embassy in Dublin due to the Irish government’s “extreme anti-Israel policy”.
Speaking today, Sa’ar took aim at Harris, who he called an “antisemite”, over the Taoiseach’s statement that “Ireland is unequivocally opposed to starving children and unequivocally opposed to killing civilians”.
“Is Israel starving children?” Sa’ar said. “When Jewish children died in the Holocaust, from starvation, you were at best neutral in the war against Nazi Germany.
“The actions, double standards, and antisemitic rhetoric of the Irish government against Israel are rooted in efforts to delegitimise and demonise the Jewish state,” Sa’ar said in a statement.
“Israel has been attacked on every front, but in their statements – we are always the aggressor. They supported the political case against Israel at the ICC and its leaders.
“They worked to try to change the legal definition of ‘genocide’ in order to try to accuse Israel of genocide at the International Court of Justice. They worked systematically to damage our relations with the European Union and to convince it to take anti-Israeli positions and actions,” sa’ar said.
In a statement this evening, a spokesperson for Simon Harris said the Taoiseach will not be responding to “personalised and false attacks and will remain focused on the horrific war crimes being perpetrated in Gaza, standing up for human rights and international law and reflecting the views of so many people across Ireland who are so concerned at the loss of innocent, civilian lives”.
Earlier, the Taoiseach told reporters that the closure of the embassy in Dublin was a ploy by Israel to distract from their own actions in Palestine. Tánaiste Micheál Martin rejected the claim that the Irish government were “hostile” to Israel.
Martin said Ireland were holding the country to account over the war in Gaza.
The move to close the embassy follows diplomatic tension between the countries over Ireland’s recognition of Palestinian statehood and its intervention in the South African lawsuit against Israel at the ICJ.
Sa’ar cited Ireland’s recognition of Palestinian and its intervention at the ICJ in his statement, while also claiming the State “promoted anti-Israel measures within the EU” and “fostered hostility toward Israel”.
Speaking to reporters in Dún Laoghaire today, the Taoiseach said Ireland will continue to ”shine a spotlight on what’s happening in the Middle East”. “We shouldn’t allow anything to distract from what is happening,” he added.
While he said he regretted the decision taken by the Israeli government yesterday, he said Ireland will continue to talk and engage with those who we might “vehemently disagree with”.
‘No one will silence this country in terms of our views,’ says Taoiseach Simon Harris.
— Christina Finn (@christinafinn8) December 16, 2024
He says the decision to close Israel’s embassy in Ireland, but not in other countries that hold similar stances, is ‘the diplomacy of distraction’. pic.twitter.com/dSM5Pg9GIE
When asked why he thinks Ireland is being targeted in such a way when other countries hold similar views, Harris said Israel has taken different actions in relation to different countries.
“But I’d respectfully suggest that possibly, because it works as a distraction,” he said, adding:
“What about Israel’s actions? What about what Netanyahu is doing to the innocent children of Gaza? This is the diplomacy of distraction and I think it is deeply regrettable that they took that decision. They have every right to take that decision, to close the embassy, but I’d rather it didn’t happen.
“We will continue to engage diplomatically, but nobody’s going to silence this country. We know right from wrong. We value human rights, we respect international law, we expect international law to be applied consistently.
“We’ve been crystal clear in relation to the need for hostages to be released, in our condemnation of Hamas as a despicable terrorist organisation that offers no bright future to anybody in Palestine or in the region, we condemn all attacks on Israel, we say Israel has a right to live in peace and security and a right to defend itself.
“You can say all of those things and still say the next thing, which is, that what the Netanyahu government is doing to innocent civilians in Gaza and in the West Bank is utterly despicable and should be condemned.”
This is regrettable but understandable given the govt’s populist anti Israeli position. The decision to seek a reinterpretation of the def of Genocide & intervene in the ICJ case lacks credibility & is both reprehensible & diplomatic suicide. https://t.co/bXjsif8nZk
— Cllr. Jim O'Leary (@jimdundrum) December 15, 2024
Harris was also asked about a tweet from the Cathaoirleach of Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council Fine Gael Councillor Jim O’Leary last night, in which he called the government’s position a “populist anti-Israeli position”.
O’Leary said the decision to seek a reinterpretation of the definition of genocide and for Ireland to intervene in the South African ICJ case “lacks credibility and is both reprehensible and diplomatic suicide”.
Speaking about his party colleague’s comments, Harris said people in his party are entitled to “their own views”. However, he went on to state:
“But do you know what I think is reprehensible? Killing children. I think that’s reprehensible.
“You know what I think is reprehensible? Seeing the scale of civilian deaths that we’ve seen in Gaza.
“You know what I think is reprehensible? People being left to starve, and humanitarian aid not flowing.
“I’m extremely proud of the position of Ireland, and I don’t just mean the Irish government, I mean the people of Ireland.”
Harris said the Irish government will continue to use its voice to speak out against war crimes against on civilians.
“This government and the next government will not be in any way deterred from that work. Of course, we want to continue to have diplomatic relations and keep our embassy in Israel open, but we will also not allow our position to be misrepresented by Israel, by the Government of Israel, or indeed by anybody else,” said the Taoiseach.
When asked about the Irish embassy in Israel, Harris said he “absolutely” expects Irish diplomats to receive the “security and protection and respect that diplomatic laws and standards would merit”. The Taoiseach said he was very grateful for the work of the ambassador and the team in Israel.
When asked about the matter by reporters in Brussels this morning, the Tánaiste said that any action that the Government has taken in relation to the Middle East, particularly to Gaza, has not been motivated by anything other than respect for international humanitarian law and for human rights.
“We’ve consistently called for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and a massive surge of humanitarian aid,” Micheál Martin said.
Recognising a state of Palestine, which we did with Norway and Spain and which other countries have done, is not a hostile act and should not be seen as a hostile act.
He said that Ireland supporting the ICJ and the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “should not be seen as a hostile act”.
“Ireland stands by the approach it has taken, which has been motivated, as I have said, towards full accountability for what is happening in Gaza and for respect for international humanitarian law and human rights,” Martin continued.
“That applies to Hamas, that has applied to Hezbollah, and to the Israeli government as well.
“I find it very difficult to comprehend how those acts could be described as hostile acts. They’re not hostile acts.”
Busy agenda at today’s Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels.
— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) December 16, 2024
Significant discussion on the situation in Ukraine, the Middle East - particularly in terms of Gaza & Syria, & developments in Georgia.
Looking forward to making our contribution to all those debates today. pic.twitter.com/288ijqRfrN
On Wednesday, Martin secured Cabinet approval for Ireland to intervene in South Africa’s case against Israel, which is currently before the International Court of Justice.
The case against Israel concerns breaches of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip.
Ireland will support South Africa’s case against Israel, initiated following the launch of Israeli military operations in Gaza since 7 October 2023.
Martin, who is also the Minister for Foreign Affairs, said there has been “huge anger” in Ireland and in the EU “at the level of killing of innocent men, women and children in Gaza”.
“What’s happening in northern Gaza at the moment, for example, in my view, is beyond any moral compass. It defies any explanation at this stage,” he said.
Given how long this war has waged, we’re having daily reports of the killings of children and men and women, and Irish people are repulsed by that. That’s basically the essence of the Irish response.
Martin called on Israel to “open up” Gaza to the international community and to allow the media in “to bear witness to what is happening”.
“I have no doubt if that happened, that the world would be shocked in terms of the level of destruction that has occurred there, and the absolute need for a fundamental change of approach to now reconstructing and rebuilding Gaza and allowing the ordinary citizens and civilians and Palestinians living in Gaza to get on with some modicum of a life, because at the moment, it’s horrendous.”
The health ministry in Gaza said today that at least 45,028 people have been killed in the area since Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Martin was speaking on his way to a meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers, which is expected to discuss the respective wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as the situation in Syria following the ousting of Bashar al-Assad.
The meeting is also expected to discuss the EU-Israel association agreement. Ireland, along with Spain, has called for the trade agreement to be reviewed in the context of the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion that Israeli settlements in Palestine breach international law.
“I believe the High Representative has some proposals on that,” Martin said.
“The Ireland position will be that in the event of the convening of the Association Council, it cannot be business as usual, and that Gaza and humanitarian human rights issues have to be on the agenda.”
He also said that Ireland believes that there must be a high-level meeting between the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) and the Palestinian Authority “because the support of the Palestinian Authority is vital to enabling again stability in the West Bank, but also the reconstruction of Gaza”.
With reporting by Christina Finn
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