Israel embassy closure is a distraction from ‘killing children’, claims Irish PM

Ireland’s taoiseach Simon Harris has accused Benjamin Netanyahu of closing down Israel’s embassy in Dublin to distract from the killing of children in Gaza by Israeli armed forces.

Israel announced it would shut down its embassy to Ireland on Sunday, citing “the extreme anti-Israel policies of the Irish government”.

“You know what I think is reprehensible? Killing children, I think that’s reprehensible,” Mr Harris said on Monday.

“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, whose role is equivalent to prime minister, accused Mr Netanyahu, his Israeli counterpart, of indulging 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,” the leader of the centre-Right Fine Gael party said.

“What about Israel’s actions? What about what Netanyahu is doing to the innocent children of Gaza?”

Mr Harris added: “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.”

Gideon Sa’ar, Israel’s foreign minister, hit back at Mr Harris’s comments in his own statement, accusing Ireland of encouraging anti-Semitism and Mr Harris of being anti-Semitic.

“There is a difference between criticism – and anti-Semitism based on the delegitimisation and dehumanisation of Israel and double standards towards Israel as opposed to other countries,” Mr Sa’ar said. “This is how Ireland allowed itself to behave towards Israel.”

He went on to say that “Ireland did not bother to promote measures to fight anti-Semitism within the country, on the contrary – they only encouraged it”, before calling Mr Harris “Ireland’s anti-Semitic prime minister”.

Mr Sa’ar pointed to Israel’s support of the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for Mr Netanyahu, and the fact that “Ireland is one of the only countries in Europe that has not adopted the IHRA [International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance] definition of anti-Semitism”.

‘Israel will not be a punching bag’

He also claimed that “Zionism and Zionists have become derogatory words in Ireland” and that Ireland “called the IDF’s actions war crimes”.

“Israel will not be a punching bag for every anti-Semite in the world to beat on,” he added.

Sinn Fein’s leader Mary Lou McDonald meanwhile called on the government to “stand firm in the face of Israeli belligerence” and progress its stalled Occupied Territories Bill, which would make it an offence to import goods made in Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

“The closure of Israel’s embassy in Ireland follows a year-long genocide against the Palestinian people and the shredding of international law,” she said. “Sanctions are essential to push for a ceasefire, an end to this genocidal war and deliver a renewed peace process grounded in international law.”

Relations between Israel and Ireland have been strained since May, when Mr Harris’ government formally recognised a Palestinian state, cementing its status as one of Europe’s most outspoken critics of the war in Gaza.

Dublin said last week it would support an International Court of Justice petition accusing Israel of genocide.

Mr Harris said in November that Ireland would arrest Mr Netanyahu if he travelled to the country after an International Criminal Court warrant was issued for the Israeli prime minister.

In October, he warned Israel against firing on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, where Irish forces were serving.

Dublin was also angered after Israel summoned the Irish ambassador in May and allowed journalists to film her as she was shown videos of female hostages being taken during Hamas’s Oct 7 terror attack.

‘Respect for humanitarian law’

Micheál Martin, the deputy prime minister and leader of the coalition partner Fianna Fail, denied Ireland was hostile towards Israel.

“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 at an EU foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels.

He said Ireland’s intervention at the International Court of Justice and recognition of Palestine was motivated by “respect for international humanitarian law”.

Ireland held elections last month, which were won by Fianna Fail. All three main parties were united by a similar stance on Israel’s war in Gaza.

People in Ireland feel a sense of kinship with Palestinians, which is rooted in its experience of British colonial rule. Like them, they believe the Palestinians are victims of a larger, belligerent neighbour.

When recognising Palestine, itself a former British territory, Mr Harris evoked the language of the Irish declaration of independence.

In June, a poll found that 76 per cent of Irish people thought the EU should impose trade sanctions on Israel because of the war in Gaza.

Ireland has also had regular anti-Israel protests. A five-day demonstration by students camping out at Trinity College Dublin only ended after the university promised to divest from Israeli companies that are active in occupied territory.

Spain and Ireland are both pushing for the EU to review its trade links to Israel because of the war, but other member states, such as Germany, remain supportive of the country.

Fianna Fail is expected to eventually form a coalition with Fine Gael in a repeat of the alliance formed after the 2020 elections.

The current government has previously rejected calls from the opposition to expel Israel’s ambassador to Ireland and has no plans to close Ireland’s embassy in Israel.