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Israel’s ambassador to Ireland has accused some Irish politicians of spewing “hate” towards the Jewish state, in a heated row over the latest flare-up of violence in the Middle East.
During emotional exchanges at an Oireachtas committee, Ophir Kariv said it was “very surprising and very disappointing” that “totally destructive” attacks on Israel were coming out of Ireland, which has “painful” experience of complex conflict.
The latest violence in Gaza was also raised in the Dáil where Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said the actions of the Israeli government were indefensible.
“Annexation, expulsion, plantation and the killing of civilians, deliberately or in terms of collateral damage, are not the behaviours of a democratic state in the 21st century and it is simply unacceptable that a democratic state or any state should behave in this way.”
He added: “I abhor Hamas and what it has done in terror and in the violation of human rights of women and LGBTQ+ groups in particular”.
Mr Varadkar was responding to Solidarity TD Mick Barry who called for Israel’s ambassador to Ireland to be expelled because he was “the representative of a state that is pursuing a policy of systemic racism”.
Mr Kariv told the Oireachtas committee earlier that Israel was willing to go “all the way” to reach a “final agreement” to end its conflict with Palestinians, he said.
But the senior diplomat warned the country will continue to defend its citizens during the current surge in bloodshed between Israel and neighbouring Gaza-strip militants.
“We are willing to go all the way, or to go to a very far extent also in order to reach a sustainable and final agreement with the Palestinians that will enable both peoples to live in safety and security and at the same time fulfil their wishes and desires,” Mr Kariv told the Oireachtas committee on foreign affairs and defence on Thursday.
“This is not easy to be achieved.”
Mr Kariv said a peaceful solution is vital for both sides, but was “very difficult”, as he blamed Palestinians for “avoiding coming back to the negotiating table”.
“The bottom line? I think hope is there,” he said.
“There is no other choice but hope for a solution between Israel and Palestinians.
“Israel will continue to do its utmost together, at the same time – maybe to the disappointment of some members [of the committee] – to preserve its interests, it will continue to defend its citizens, and it is important to emphasis… we are working within international law and according to international law.”
Mr Kariv said his “heart goes to people of Gaza who are being held hostages practically” by the militant organisation Hamas, which controls the enclave.
“When it comes to ending what is happening now in Gaza and Israel, I do believe things need a clear stand here,” he said, urging the international community, including Ireland, to play a role.
Amid angry outbursts, Mr Kariv said some contributions by the Oireachtas committee were constructive while others had engaged in “spats of hate” which were “totally destructive”.
“It is sometimes very surprising and very disappointing… coming of all places out of Ireland,” he said, adding that Ireland had “some painful experience of how to deal with such complex conflicts.”
Irish peace process
Former minister for justice Alan Shatter also criticised the “toxic contributions” from some committee members, singling out Sinn Féin TD John Brady and People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett, which he said were “regrettable” and doing “nothing positive for peace”.
Appearing as a witness, Mr Shatter accused both TDs of engaging in a campaign to “de-legitimise and demonise” the Israeli state.
They were advocating Israel having “no right to defend itself, Jewish people having no right to defend themselves”, while it was “open season for Hamas to fire as many rockets as they wish” into the state, he said.
Mr Shatter said Sinn Féin had learned nothing from the Irish peace process.
“Sinn Féin has something it could offer to those engaged in militant terrorism – explaining the importance of ending violence, the importance of talking, the importance of people learning to live with and understand each other and the importance of creating trust and moving to reconciliation,” he said.
“They are advocating a policy which reflects that of Hamas, which is to bring about the total destruction of the Israeli State, the elimination of the only Jewish state that exists in the entire world, and they are doing it for one simple reason.
“This is Sinn Féin’s payback for for the assistance given by the PLO [Palestinian Liberation Organisation] and the PFLP [Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine] in training Provo terrorists through the 1970s and 1980s, who wrought murder and mayhem on the island of Ireland.”
Mr Shatter also hit out at the Palestinian education system “partially paid for by Irish taxpayers, that brainwashes young children to hate, celebrate terrorist atrocities and [which] encourages martyrdom.”
“It is also creating generations who will oppose any reasonable peace resolution that may emerge some time in the future emerge,” he added.
“The manner in which they are taught is creating a series of inflexible generations who will never engage in any support for a compromised solution.”
Wicklow TD Mr Brady said it was “deeply depressing” that 69 people – including 17 children – had been “butchered” in Gaza during what he described as an act of “collective punishment” by the Israelis on Palestinians.
“How is butchering 69 people in indiscriminate bombings in Gaza... how is that self-defence?” he asked the committee, holding aloft pictures of two of the children killed in the recent violence.
“Israel is perpetrating a war crime under the Geneva Convention,” he said.
Dun Laoghaire TD Mr Boyd Barrett said the Israeli state was a “colonialist” and “apartheid” enterprise that achieves its aims through the “ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people”.
“You use violence, you use a twisted version of the law as the means to achieve your aims,” he told Mr Kariv.
EU ‘failure’
Elsewhere, Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney said the EU’s failure to call out sufficiently the illegal actions by Israel against Palestinians had accelerated those actions this year leading to the flare-up of violence over recent days, .
Speaking to Dublin foreign policy think tank, the Institute of International and European Affairs, Mr Coveney said the EU had “fallen short” and failed to project its influence in agreeing a common position that calls out illegal activity by the Israelis against Palestinians.
Israeli settlements and their expansion in Israeli-occupied territories and the forced evictions of Palestinians were “illegal” and the Irish Government had “got to call that out,” he said.
“Much of that activity - because it hasn’t been called out sufficiently by the European Union - continues and, in fact, has accelerated so far in 2021 and is a contributing factor I think for a lot of tension in recent days and a lot of the tragedy in recent days,” he said.
Mr Coveney said the Israeli response to rocket attacks by Palestinian militants that have killed seven Israelis “has to be questioned” given the deaths of almost 70 civilians, including close to 20 children, in Gaza, home to two million Palestinians. This “not acceptable,” he said.
“Even though of course I recognise that Israel has a right to defend itself, there is an obligation in international law to make a clear distinction between civilians and children, and targets that are legitimate in the context of a country having the right to defend itself.”
The minister said the Government was not taking sides over the violence but wanted an adherence to international law and international agreements to be reached to resolve tensions.
“Sometimes that means I have got to call things out and create uncomfortable conversations but I think I have an obligation to do that,” he said.
Mr Coveney summoned Mr Kariv to a meeting earlier this week to complain about the loss of life in Gaza due to Israeli air strikes.
In the Dáil, Mr Barry said Ireland had exported €6.5 million in military or dual-use hardware to Israel in the past decade. Dual use hardware could be converted to a military use, he said.
“For all I know or you know Tánaiste some of that hardware is being used right now to shed the blood of innocent Palestinian civilians,” Mr Barry said.
Mr Varadkar replied that he had power to impose sanctions and ban certain exports and if Mr Barry had details he wished “to give me about Irish products and services that might in some way be assisting the Israeli government in its actions, I will be happy to look into that”.