There have been recent calls, including from Sinn Féin, the Labour Party and People Before Profit, for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador to Dublin. I empathise with those who want to find some way of protesting against the hideous and disproportionate suffering now being inflicted on Palestinian civilians, just as I sympathise with Israelis who have been traumatised by the murder and brutality inflicted by the grotesque Hamas operation on October 7th. What the world needs now, more than anything, is to see the “whole truth” – what witnesses swear to tell in court, rather than the partial truths both sides proclaim with great and equal conviction.
To understand why the expulsion of Israel’s ambassador would be a mistake it is necessary to recall the role of ambassadors. Embassies provide a two-way channel of communication between countries across a range of interests and issues. It would be foolish to exchange embassies only with those countries with which we are in comfortable agreement. On the contrary, it is not only appropriate to maintain diplomatic relations with countries we may sharply disagree with from time to time; it is essential. If every country nurtured diplomatic relations only with its uncomplicated friends there would be precious little scope for diplomacy in our damaged and dangerous world.
The Israeli ambassador’s core responsibility involves explaining her government’s position to the Irish Government. It’s essential that that position, whether we agree with it or not, is factored into Irish thinking. The views of the Palestinian embassy here are, of course, equally important.
At the same time it is crucial that diplomatic channels are used in the opposite direction also, for explaining Ireland’s position to the Israeli foreign ministry – all the more so because there seems to be a high degree of misunderstanding of our stance. I have no idea what sort of reports the Israeli ambassador sends home. Ideally she would be explaining that our Government’s intention, even if Israel thinks we’ve got it wrong, is to take a balanced approach, and perhaps something of our historical perspective. However, even if her reports don’t contribute to a greater understanding of Ireland’s position at home – and for all I know they may – at least I assume they serve the purpose of explaining clearly what our position is, hopefully correcting fake news such as the suggestion that Ireland does not consider Hamas a terrorist organisation.
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Any decision to expel Israel’s ambassador would also have at least three specific consequences, especially if we were to act alone rather than in concert with our European partners or the wider international community.
First, our own ambassador in Tel Aviv would, in those circumstances, undoubtedly be expelled. In addition to thus largely shutting off the other valve of vital two-way political communication, it would undermine the capacity of our embassy to look after Irish citizens in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank at this highly sensitive and dangerous time; a situation set to deteriorate further. It would also impact negatively in the longer term on Ireland’s capacity to promote our views and wider Irish interests in Israel.
Second, the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador would feed the false narrative that Ireland is “anti-Israeli”. Ireland’s sympathy for the injustice and suffering inflicted for so long on the Palestinian people is not directed against the state of Israel or its people, even if we are strongly critical of some of its government’s policies. Rather our aspiration is to grasp the “whole truth”, which necessarily involves an awareness also of the unutterably appalling suffering inflicted on the Jewish people and out of which the state of Israel was born.
Third, expelling the ambassador to express anger at the profoundly shocking developments in Gaza would significantly undermine Ireland’s capacity to contribute to shaping events in the region. Ireland’s influence is limited but not insignificant. EU policies, in particular, even if they necessarily reflect the differing views of 27 member states, bear some Irish imprint. Calls for humanitarian pauses, for prioritising the protection of civilians, for maintaining the EU’s position as the largest donor of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians have to be argued for constructively. We also have a respected voice at the United Nations because it is widely seen as a balanced one.
Ireland takes a lead, in Europe and beyond, in calling for urgent progress towards a two-state solution so that Palestinians can have the state they are entitled to every bit as much as Israelis are entitled to theirs. By blatantly picking sides we would diminish our influence. The risk of expelling the Israeli ambassador is that while it might make some people feel good it would weaken Ireland’s efforts to actually do some good.
What is needed, now and in the future, is more diplomacy, not less.
Bobby McDonagh is a former ambassador to London, Brussels and Rome