Israel Shuts Ireland Embassy: How Relations with Europe’s Hostile State Deteriorated

Monday, 16 December 2024 | The decision of Foreign Minister Gideon Saar to close the Israeli embassy in Ireland came after Dublin joined the South African petition against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague accusing Israel of committing genocide. "The actions and antisemitic rhetoric used by Ireland against Israel are rooted in the delegitimization and demonization of the Jewish state, along with double standards. Ireland has crossed every red line in its relations with Israel," Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said in the statement.

 "The Israeli decision was deeply regrettable," Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris said. "I utterly reject the assertion that Ireland is anti-Israel. Ireland is pro-peace, pro-human rights and pro-international law," Harris said in a post on X. 

Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said the two countries would maintain diplomatic relations and there were no plans to close Ireland's embassy in Israel.

Israel had previously considered the option of closing-down its embassy and said it took the step, in response to the Irish government's extreme anti-Israeli position.

Soon after the war in Gaza began, there were voices in Ireland calling for the expulsion of Israel's ambassador Dana Erlich, who received [the] threat just three weeks after the Hamas massacre. Erlich who was assigned to one of the most hostile European capitals, appeared frequently in the Irish media, criticizing the parliament.

That led to personal threats against her and she was slammed on social media with calls to "kick out the terrorist ambassador," accompanied by her photos covered in blood. 

She recently even found herself in confrontation with Irish President Michael Higgins who had accused Israel of violating international law and the Geneva Convention and claimed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had declared his intentions to break international law in advance.

Erlich responded by accusing him of misinformation regarding the war. She said the president's comments were inciting.

One month later, the former prime minister Leo Varadkar praised the release of then nine-year-old Emily Hand from Hamas captivity after she was abducted during the October 7 massacre but neglected to mention who her abductors were.

“This is a day of enormous joy and relief for Emily Hand and her family. An innocent child who was lost and has now been found and returned, Varadkar wrote in a post on X.

Last May Ireland joined Norway and Spain in recognizing a Palestinian state. Harris then said he expected more countries to follow suit.

Even before that decision was made, in April Ireland' Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) announced it was selling its holdings in six Israeli companies because they had activity in the "occupied Palestinian territories." The sale of assets totaling some three million euros [USD 3.15 million] from major Israeli banks and a supermarket chain was based on a UN data base of companies working in Israeli settlements on the West Bank [Judea and Samaria].

At the same time Ireland has had a sharp increase in antisemitic incidents including in the education system. The British Jewish Chronical reported that school books included sentences like "murderous Jews" and "Israel is an aggressor" and as a result, Jewish children were traumatized and made to change schools.

The Education Ministry in Dublin rejected the criticism and said that Irish children receive fair and balanced educational material from good Irish teachers in a variety of subjects including Judaism and the history of the Jewish people.