Disrespecting Ireland Won’t Mask the Need to Investigate Israeli Actions in Gaza

When accepting the credentials of Irish Ambassador to Israel Sonya McGuinness in September 2023, President Isaac Herzog remarked that Ireland is deeply respected in Israel. When one looks at how relations with the Emerald Isle have deteriorated since that time, one of the most glaring observations is how the Israeli government and the Foreign Ministry have shown the Irish government and its envoy in Tel Aviv anything but respect.

McGuiness served as ambassador to Turkey before being posted to Israel shortly before October 7th. At a Women Wage Peace event three days before the brutal Hamas attack, McGuinness shared that she was no stranger to violence, having experienced the bombings in Belfast during the 1990s, and held out the Irish case as an example of how a conflict involving land, identity, and religion can be resolved. In her remarks, McGuinness emphasized the importance of support from external actors, lauding the EU and the United States “because they didn’t look away.” There can be no question that the strife that preceded the Good Friday Agreement inspires Ireland’s refusal to look away as innocent Israelis rot in Hamas tunnels and as the numbers of dead Gazans reach unfathomable proportions.

Foreign Minister Loses It Over a Lost Child

Despite the Irish government’s strong and unequivocal condemnations of the Hamas attacks, repeatedly described by the most senior officials as heinous atrocities committed by a despicable terrorist organization, relations between Israel and Ireland have been on a downhill slide as a result of Ireland’s stalwart defense of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and its harsh criticism of the Israeli government’s conduct of the war in Gaza. Israel’s zero tolerance for missteps by Ireland led to an absurd diplomatic incident around the release of Emily Hand, a 9-year-old child with Irish citizenship, from Hamas captivity. Leo Varadkar, Irish prime minister at the time, posted a short quote from his one-page statement on X, saying that “an innocent child who was lost has now been found.”

The biblical reference was lost on then-Israeli foreign minister Eli Cohen, who also overlooked Varadkar’s full statement which went on to say that he hoped that the “little girl who was snatched from her home and held captive” and her family, which had experienced weeks of “slow and cruel torture,” would begin to heal. Cohen accused Varadkar of having lost his moral compass and “trying to legitimize and normalize terror.” Amb. McGuinness was summoned for a reprimand in response to what Cohen said were Varadkar’s “outrageous” statements. A seasoned diplomat, McGuinness reportedly expressed “surprise” over Israel’s reaction, rather than calling out the Foreign Ministry for its ignorant, ill-considered, and offensive response.

‘Parade of Stupidity’ over Recognition

Relations took a turn for the worse in May, when Ireland, together with Spain and Norway, recognized the State of Palestine. Announcing the move, Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris said it was “a statement of unequivocal support for a two-state solution, the only credible path to peace and security for Israel, for Palestine, and for their peoples.”  In an op-ed in Haaretz, McGuinness expressed empathy for “the trauma, suffering, and fear that has been caused by the Hamas atrocities” and underscored her government’s “deep concern for the fate of the hostages and total revulsion at the barbarity of the Hamas terrorist attacks.” At the same time, she wrote, the Irish government and people feel “profound distress” over the death and destruction in Gaza. Rejecting charges of rewarding terror, McGuinness pointed out that a free and independent Palestine would have to accept both the rights and duties of a state and pursue its aims through diplomatic means. Unsurprisingly, her assurances that the Irish government saw recognition as a contribution to a future in which “Israelis and Palestinians alike live in security and dignity” fell on deaf ears.

In reaction, then-foreign minister Israel Katz embarked on “a parade of stupidity” (to use his own epithet for Ireland’s Middle East policy). In addition to recalling Israel’s ambassadors from the three countries, Katz released a video with footage from the October 7th attacks interspersed with scenes of Irish dancing, published a post saying, “@SimonHarrisTD, Hamas thanks you for your service,” and summoned McGuiness along with her Spanish and Norwegian colleagues for a dressing down, in which, in the presence of Israeli media, they were forced to watch video of Hamas terrorists kidnapping female soldiers. As opposed to what Harris described as the “firm but respectful” conversation he held with President Herzog on Ireland’s decision, Katz’s behavior fell outside “the parameters of acceptable norms in terms of how people engage with diplomats,” as was so accurately stated by Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin.

Israelis See No Grounds for Genocide Debate

Bilateral relations hit a nadir in mid-December when the Foreign Ministry decided to close the Israeli embassy in Dublin after Ireland announced that it would be intervening in South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) by arguing for a broad interpretation of what constitutes genocide by a state.

Conventional wisdom in Israel has it that there are no grounds to debate whether “the most moral army in the world” could possibly be committing war crimes sanctioned by the political leadership. The excuse that the public does not know what has been happening in Gaza because Israeli media do not cover it is flimsy at best.  Flattened neighborhoods serve as backdrops for Israel TV reporting on the “triumphs” of the IDF, updated casualty numbers are just a Google search away, reports on destroyed schools and hospitals feature on CNN news tickers, and it is impossible to scroll through social media without coming across a photo of starving, maimed, or dead children. And let’s not forget the human rights abuses documented by Israeli soldiers themselves in order to share with the boys back home. Public sentiment in Israel, where any Gazan old enough to walk is considered a terrorist or a terrorist-in-the-making, ranges from choosing the comfort of ignorance to believing that human rights violations are a necessity to encouraging killing as an act of revenge.

Those readers who balk at this last assertion need to be reminded of the eulogies for IDF soldier Shuvael Ben-Natan. Mourners expressed admiration for the “prank” he pulled by setting a Palestinian house on fire in order to boost his unit’s morale and vowed to continue his fight to take revenge on as many Palestinian women and children as possible. Reports on the funeral were broadcast on prime-time Israeli newscasts without any critical commentary. What can you expect in a country where the finance minister makes the bizarre assertion that it would be “justified and moral” to let 2 million Gazans starve to death?

Sa’ar Plays the Antisemitism Card

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who sold his soul for a seat at Netanyahu’s table, saw the Irish appeal to the ICJ as an opportunity to show that he is not just some lackey and decided to close the embassy in Dublin, foolishly giving the anti-Zionist movements the gift of contributing to Israel’s international isolation. Explaining his decision, Sa’ar went straight to the coalition playbook and called both Ireland and its prime minister antisemitic. “Is Israel starving children?” he asked in bewilderment on an RTE broadcast. I guess he missed Smotrich’s lamentation that the world would not let Israel starve enough of them and has not seen the UNICEF report that 90 percent of children under age 2 and 95% of pregnant and breastfeeding women in Gaza face severe food poverty.

It is legitimate to object to the steps taken by the Irish government, but the Israeli leadership’s inability to maintain a civil dialogue in the face of serious disagreements is pathetic. As noted by Ambassador McGuiness, “diplomacy is most valuable at times of difficulty.” Pointing out the implications of the embassy closure for Irish citizens with Israeli roots, the chair of the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland said, “It is crucial that both governments recognize the broader implications of their decisions, not just for bilateral relations but for the people they affect directly.” Foreign Minister Martin’s announcement that Ireland will keep its embassy in Israel open shows expertise in the art of diplomacy and concern for Irish citizens abroad. On the other hand, the closure of the Israeli embassy in Dublin shows that when it comes to putting the public’s interests above their own, Israel’s leaders have failed their citizens once again.

Halting a Descent into Tyranny

It is hard to see how asking hard questions about actions that have led to more than 45,000 Palestinian dead and more than 100,000 injured has anything to do with hating Jews. The shocking statistics demand examination. On December 5, Haaretz reported on a database compiled by historian Lee Mordechai documenting war crimes perpetrated by Israeli soldiers in Gaza. Even if only half of the incidents stand the test of legal scrutiny, the picture is harrowing. Anyone who cares about the moral fiber of Israeli society should share Ireland’s concern that a spirit of genocide is permeating the Israeli space and should welcome the ICJ investigation as a way to either clear Israel’s name or save it from a descent into iniquity.