Ireland’s Palestine recognition: How Israel’s diplomatic response missed the mark - opinion

Since the barbaric atrocities of October 7, the abduction of hostages by Hamas, 100 of whom, both the dead and alive, remain captive in Gaza and the start of the current conflicts, the multiplicity of events and incidents has been overwhelming. 

There is no need in this article to recite them nor detail the resulting deaths, destruction, tragedy, and the enormous resultant continuing disruption in people's lives, as it has been well documented both in this paper and elsewhere. A minor issue of minimal relevance amidst it all was the declaration last May by three European states of their recognition of the State of Palestine of which the Irish government likes to present itself as having played a leading role. 

Ireland, Spain, and Norway together made such declarations and were, in June, joined by Slovenia. As hostages remained captive in tunnels, missiles continued to be fired from Gaza, and Irish UNIFIL troops in Southern Lebanon took shelter as Hezbollah missiles indiscriminately targeted Israel, Ireland’s government celebrated its “ historic momentous initiative” in international diplomacy, which resulted in the Palestinian flag flying outside the Irish Parliament. 

Lost in dispatches was that the Irish government's involvement was primarily cynically devised to seduce domestic electoral support from Ireland’s anti-Israeli campaigners in the June European Parliament and local government elections.

In Ireland and elsewhere the declaration was falsely promoted as contributing to conflict resolution and towards achieving a two state solution. It was wrongly predicted by the Irish government that the declaration would, in the immediate weeks that followed, be replicated by many EU states, which didn’t occur.

No interest in any two-state solution

The declaration of recognition was acclaimed by Irish anti-Israel parliamentarians, activists, and regular street marchers who have no interest in any two-state solution and whose declared objective is Israel’s destruction, a Palestinian state “ from the river to the sea” and renewed Hamas governance of Gaza. 

It was denounced by Israel as a reward for terrorism and an encouragement to Hamas and its Iranian-sponsored allies to continue and expand the current war and as encouraging the hostages to continue captivity.

In protest mode, Israel’s Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, unwisely indefinitely recalled Israel’s ambassadors from each of the four declarant states and put them in cold storage in Jerusalem. Within the mindset of Israel’s current government, this was some sort of punishment administered to the Irish and other governments. 

In addition, Israel diminished any direct diplomatic engagements with the offending four.

The declarations were, of course, largely irrelevant, farcical acts of performative politics and grandstanding. In international law, there is no legal basis for recognizing as a state three separate territories, i.e., Gaza, the West Bank ( Judea and Samaria), and East Jerusalem administered by three separate governments without a settled border as a single state. 

Gaza until recently administered by Hamas, the West Bank by the Palestinian Authority and East Jerusalem by Israel, which today still plays a role in the governance of the first two referenced, do not currently present as a single state with a single government and cannot be credibly legally depicted as one, despite declarations by the UN General Assembly and related bodies.

Poor European judgment 

Neither the Irish nor the other three governments are going to renounce their declarations at any time and admit to error or poor judgment. On the contrary, as evidenced by their participation on Friday, September 13 last (a propitious date!) in the “ Madrid Joint Statement on the Implementation of the Two-State Solution”, which entirely ignores Iran’s overarching role in conducting and maintaining the current conflicts, they are dedicated to digging in and continuing to engage in irrelevant gesture politics.

Currently, there is no indication of when Israel’s exiled ambassadors will be authorized to return to their ambassadorial postings. While I profess no expertise on the background history that led to Israel having residential ambassadors in Spain, Slovenia, and Norway, I am totally familiar with the background to Israel finally having a residential ambassador in Dublin in 1993.

For many years, the Irish government resisted agreeing to a residential embassy, initially because the Vatican did not recognize Israel and then for fear of a negative impact on Irish exports to and trade with Arab countries and Iran. In recent times, there has been a persistent campaign by pro-Palestinian activists, many of whom have uncritically adopted the Hamas narrative, for the expulsion of Israel’s ambassador from Dublin. 

Despite its unbalanced approach to the Israel/ Palestinian conflict and its post-October 7 denial of all complexity and ignoring inconvenient facts, the Irish government resisted the expulsion demand. It sensibly favored maintaining lines of communication and engagement instead of closing them down.

By recalling Israel’s current very able and eloquent ambassador to Dublin, Dana Erlich, and not facilitating her return to her post, Minister Katz has, in a fit of pique, shot himself in the foot. By removing Dana Erlich from her post, he has fulfilled the dreams and obsessive demands of the toxic, fact-free anti-Israeli protesters and parliamentarians for long resisted by the Irish Government.

Diplomatic errors 

In the world of diplomacy, preventing her return to Ireland is an act of crass stupidity of no benefit to Israel. It is perceived by Ireland’s small Jewish community and Israel’s supporters in Ireland at this stage as an indefensible continuing diplomatic error.

In Ireland, as elsewhere, this October 7, there will be a remembrance service for those murdered exactly a year earlier, lives lost to date in continuing conflict, and prayers for surviving hostages. A decision should be rapidly made by the Israeli government that Ambassador Erlich resume her duties in Dublin and be present representing Israel as a speaker at this very important event. 

Her presence is of symbolic importance and a demonstration of Israel’s resilience. Her absence will achieve nothing other than to portray politically irrelevant grievance. The only ones who will celebrate her absence are Israel’s enemies intent on Israel’s destruction.

The writer is a former Irish Minister for Justice, Equality, & Defence, a former member of the EU Council of Justice and Home Affairs Minister, and a former Chairperson of the Irish Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee. He is currently the voluntary Chairperson of Magen David Adom Ireland.