Time for others to follow Ireland’s principled stand on Gaza

Ireland is not anti-Israel, it just supports international law, human rights and peace.

That was Tánaiste Micheál Martin’s response to Israel’s closure of its embassy in Dublin, in protest against Ireland’s criticisms of the Israeli military campaign in Gaza.

Taoiseach Simon Harris said that the people of Ireland would be shocked if Irish foreign policy was not based on those same principles. Both men are right.

They deserve the support of the Irish people for the morality and dignity of their stand on Gaza.

As leaders of the Irish government, they have condemned all attacks on Israel, arguing that it has the right to live in peace and security and to defend itself.

They have balanced this by censuring Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, which has killed more than 45,000 people and utterly destroyed every fabric of normal society there.

Ireland has a long and proud history of sending its army on United Nations peace-keeping duties in various parts of the world.

That includes the deployment of 30,000 Irish troops in Lebanon since 1978. Israel has recently demanded that UN troops should leave the area.

Ireland’s record on the international stage, particularly in Lebanon, gives it the moral right to condemn violence and advocate peace in Palestine.

In support of that record, it is one of 14 countries backing South Africa’s case in the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide.

It will also ask the ICJ to broaden its interpretation of what constitutes genocide.

That does not make Ireland anti-Israel. It just means it recognises the futility of violence and the inhumanity of its consequences.

Simon Harris rightly suggests that Israel’s closure of its Dublin embassy is a ploy by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to distract attention from the thousands of children killed by his army in Gaza.

It might also help to draw attention away from the fact that Mr Netanyahu is facing criminal charges in his own country of bribery, fraud and breach of trust.

However, this does not explain why Israel has specifically picked on Ireland to close its embassy.

Other European countries, including Norway and Spain, have adopted a similar position on Gaza, but the Israeli embassies there remain open.

In view of the close cultural and economic ties between Ireland and the United States, Israel’s action may be an attempt to press the US to put pressure on Ireland to change its foreign policy.

Mr Netanyahu would be better served by changing his policy towards Palestine.

As much of the Western world remains silent or ambivalent on the death toll in Gaza, the Irish government has shown moral and political courage on the global stage.

It is now time for others to follow Ireland’s lead.