Israel’s foreign minister accused Taoiseach Simon Harris on Monday of antisemitism as he defended Israel’s decision to close its embassy in Dublin over Ireland’s policies.
“There is a difference between criticism - and antisemitism based on the delegitimisation and dehumanisation of Israel and double standards towards Israel,” Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said in a statement.
He cited Ireland’s support for what he called “politicised” proceedings against Israeli leaders by the International Criminal Court as well as Irish support for an action at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide over its campaign in Gaza.
“Last night Ireland’s antisemitic Prime Minister Simon Harris said in an interview ‘Ireland is not anti-Israel but Ireland is absolutely anti the starvation of children’,” Mr Saar said. “Is Israel starving children?”
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He said Israel was working to enable humanitarian aid to reach Gaza and prevent civilian casualties while he said Hamas was looting aid and using civilians as human shields.
Government Buildings said that Mr Harris would not respond to “personalised and false attacks” and again suggested that Israel was guilty of war crimes in its attacks on Palestinian territories.
A spokesperson for the Taoiseach said: “The Taoiseach will not be responding to personalised and false attacks and remains 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.”
Some 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals were killed in the October 7th, 2023, assault on Israeli communities by Hamas-led gunmen, and more than 250 abducted as hostages into Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s campaign in response has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health authorities, displaced most of the 2.3 million population and destroyed large swathes of the enclave.
Earlier, Mr Harris responded to the Israeli decision to close its embassy in Dublin by accusing prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu of using it as a ploy to distract attention from the thousands of children killed by his armed forces in Gaza.
In a defiant criticism of the decision, Mr Harris said what was truly reprehensible was the scale of the killing in Gaza and the treatment of its entire population by the Israel Defense Forces.
“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.”
Mr Harris said he was extremely proud of the stance of Ireland and its people and the manner in which the Government had spoken out against the atrocities in the Middle East.
“I think we should be very careful in not falling for what I believe are distractions by the Israeli government. It is deeply regrettable that it decided to shut its embassy. I don’t in any way minimise that decision, but it’s nothing in comparison to what’s happening in the Middle East, absolutely nothing,” he said.
“Ireland will continue to do what Ireland always does when it comes to foreign policy, stand up for human rights, stand up for international law. There’s nothing hostile about that. In fact, I think the people of Ireland would be rather shocked if Ireland’s foreign policy wasn’t founded on the principles of supporting international law, supporting the work of international courts and supporting human rights.”
The Taoiseach said that Ireland would continue to engage diplomatically with Israel but nobody would silence the State in terms of the views held by people from all parties and all walks of life.
He claimed Mr Netanyahu and his government were involved in the “diplomacy of distraction”.
“I’d respectfully suggest that, possibly, because it works as a distraction, you’re all here today asking about Ireland’s position. What about Israel’s actions? What about what Netanyahu is doing to the innocent children of Gaza? ... I think it is deeply regrettable that they made that decision.”
He continued: “We expect international law to be applied consistently. We’ve been crystal clear in relation to the need for hostages to be released and 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 by all.”
Earlier in Brussels, Micheál Martin denied the Government has been acting in a “hostile” way to Israel in seeking to hold it to account for its actions in its war in Gaza.
The Fianna Fáil leader said Ireland’s intervention at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and its previous recognition of the state of Palestine had been motivated by “respect for international humanitarian law”.
Mr Martin, who is also Minister for Foreign Affairs, said supporting the ICJ and the International Criminal Court, which has issued an arrest warrant for Mr Netanyahu, should not be viewed as a hostile act.
[ Israel embassy closure will not deter Ireland from pursuing ICJ case over GazaOpens in new window ]
“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.
The actions of the Israeli army in northern Gaza, where there are daily reports of the killing of men, women and children, is “beyond any moral compass,” Mr Martin said.
“We’ve consistently called for an immediate ceasefire, release of all hostages, and a massive surge of humanitarian aid,” he said. There needed to be “full accountability” for the Israeli military campaign that has destroyed much of Gaza, as well as accountability for Hamas militants who had controlled the Palestinian enclave, and Hizbullah in Lebanon.
Mr Martin called for Israel to “open up” Gaza to the international community and the media, to allow them to “bear witness” to what was 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 an effort for a fundamental change of approach,” he said.
“Ireland, along with Norway and Spain, have taken a lot of hostility from Israel in respect of the decision to recognise the Palestinian state,” he said. That was despite the fact that the “vast majority” of people had long believed a two-state solution was the only way to resolve the conflict between Israel and Palestine, he said.
The Government had previously rejected calls from Opposition politicians to expel the Israeli ambassador to Ireland, Dana Erlich, citing a desire to keep diplomatic lines of communication open. There are no plans to close Ireland’s embassy in Israel.
Mr Martin was speaking on his way into a meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers in Brussels, which will discuss the war in Ukraine, the Middle East, and the situation in Syria following the fall of the Assad regime.
The meeting is expected to discuss a proposed meeting of EU and Israeli politicians, under the bloc’s “association” trade agreement with the country. Efforts to hold such a meeting, known as an association council, have been stalled for months.
Both Spain and Ireland have been pushing for the trade agreement to be reviewed, in light of human rights abuses by Israel in Gaza. Mr Martin said any meeting of the association council could not be “business as usual” and Gaza had to be on the agenda. The EU is also expected to organise a high-level meeting next year with politicians from the Palestinian Authority, who control part of the West Bank. - Additional reporting Reuters
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