Frankly Speaking: Understanding Ireland’s stance on Israel

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Updated 04 March 2024
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Frankly Speaking: Understanding Ireland’s stance on Israel

Frankly Speaking: Understanding Ireland’s stance on Israel
  • Trade minister says Dublin prefers collective EU action, but is ready to impose unilateral sanctions on violent settlers
  • Simon Coveney wants Israel to abide by parameters of international law, not ‘become a monster to defeat a monster’ in Gaza

DUBAI: The Republic of Ireland will look at the option of imposing sanctions unilaterally on extremist Israeli settlers on Palestinian land if the European Union is unable to agree on a collective response, according to the country’s minister for enterprise, trade and employment.

Appearing on the Arab News current affairs show “Frankly Speaking,” Simon Coveney said Ireland would prefer to act collectively with its EU partners, but could be compelled to follow Spain in acting unilaterally if a deal is not agreed.

“Yes, we’ll look to try to do that, but we would much rather that these sanctions were imposed collectively by the European Union. There are 26 of the 27 countries that are in agreement in terms of doing that,” he said in course of a wide-ranging interview.

“Let’s not forget the US too has introduced sanctions on violent settlers in the West Bank to send a very strong signal that they regard what is happening in part of the West Bank in terms of violence against Palestinians as totally unacceptable.”

Violence in the occupied West Bank has increased since the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7 sparked Israel’s military operation in Gaza, with extremist Israeli settlers using the chaos to seize more Palestinian land.

Ireland has been among the most vocal international critics of Israel’s military campaign, which to date has cost the lives of more than 30,000 people, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry. Another 7,000 people remain missing and at least 70,450 are injured.

Coveney himself was recently quoted as saying that Israel was behaving like a “rogue state” in Gaza. “My comments in relation to the war in Gaza were a reflection of the frustration of many Irish people, but also many other people around the world that want to see progress on finding the basis for a ceasefire,” he told Katie Jensen, the host of “Frankly Speaking.”




Simon Coveney, Ireland’s minister for enterprise, trade and employment, said Ireland provides significant funding to support programs for Palestinians across the West Bank and previously across Gaza as well. (AN Photo)

He continued: “And then, of course, trying to make that ceasefire permanent so that we can focus on responding to the extraordinary human suffering that we’re seeing across Gaza now.

“That’s not in any way to diminish the strong Irish criticism and condemnation of the terror attacks that happened to Israeli citizens on Oct. 7 last. But since that awful attack on Israel, we have seen a level of military activity in Gaza that has been devastating.

“We’ve seen almost 30,000 lives lost, many of them women and children. And, of course, a population within Gaza now that is close to starvation. And we need to respond in the context of international law, international humanitarian law, the UN Charter.

“My comments were about responding to the fact that Israel seems not to be listening to many of its partners and allies who are now encouraging restraint and trying to find a basis for a ceasefire.”

Coveney has also said that Israel should not “behave like a monster in order to defeat a monster,” in reference to the country’s military retaliation to the Oct. 7 attack, which saw 1,200 Israelis and other foreign nationals killed and 240 taken hostage.

“When I said you can’t become a monster to defeat a monster, really what I’m referring to there is that a democratic state like Israel has got to abide by the parameters of international law,” he said.

“Even war has rules. We all have a responsibility to hold each other to account in the international community. And in our view, in Ireland, what Israel is doing in Gaza is completely disproportionate to what’s required, as necessary for the defense of Israel.

“The thousands and thousands of children and women who’ve lost their lives under buildings that have collapsed on top of them, this is something that needs to stop and needs to be called out, and is not necessary for the defense of Israel.

“Of course, there must be a consequence to what Hamas did on Oct. 7. And Israel has a right to defend itself.

“But the extent of what has happened, and the loss of life and injury in Gaza, is in my view not justified and is certainly a breach of many aspects of international law and humanitarian law that needs to be called out, which is why we are such a strong advocate for a ceasefire.”




Palestinian child eats bread in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on March 4, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Hamas movement. (AFP)

The World Food Programme has warned that a famine is imminent in northern Gaza, which has received very little aid in recent weeks, and where an estimated 300,000 people are living with little food or clean water.

On Thursday, at least 112 Palestinians were killed and 760 injured while trying to get desperately needed aid in Gaza City in the presence of Israeli tanks.

Hamas has accused Israel of firing at civilians, but Israel said most died in a stampede after its troops fired warning shots. Leaders around the world have called for a full investigation.

“Even in the absence of conflict, the efforts that the international community are going to need to put in place in Gaza to prevent starvation, to respond to the extraordinary challenges around healthcare and basic provisions is huge,” Coveney said.

“There are only a few hospitals left that are actually functioning in Gaza.”

Given the incredible destruction, the sheer size of what has taken place in the enclave, would Ireland be willing to step in and help with reconstruction efforts when the war eventually comes to an end?

“Absolutely,” said Coveney.

He explained that Ireland provides significant funding to support programs for Palestinians across the West Bank and previously across Gaza as well.

“We’re one of the strongest supporters of UNRWA, as really the only scaled-up humanitarian organization that can provide the scale of supports that Palestinians need, in Gaza and indeed across the West Bank,” he said, referring to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, which supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees.

“So, even in the last number of weeks, Ireland has, while other countries have actually been pulling their funding or freezing their funding to UNRWA because of a potential scandal of some UNRWA staff being involved in the terror attacks of October 7, even though a very small number may have been involved, let’s wait and see what the investigation determines.




Simon Coveney, Ireland’s minister for enterprise, trade and employment,  told Katie Jensen, the host of “Frankly Speaking,” that “since that awful attack on Israel, we have seen a level of military activity in Gaza that has been devastating.” (AN Photo)

Separately, Ireland has tried to give a signal to other donors that, given the scale of human suffering in Gaza at the moment, UNRWA is an organization that needs to be supported, Coveney said.

“And so we have increased our funding by 20 million in the last number of weeks, which means now that we will be giving more than €40 million ($50.628 million) to UNRWA. And we hope that that gives a signal to other countries that are funders and supporters of UNRWA that they need to continue to do that,” he said.

The primary focus of Coveney’s visit to the region was the World Trade Organization’s 13th Ministerial Conference, which took place Feb. 26 to 29 in the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi.

Given the current geopolitical situation, however, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the tensions in the Red Sea naturally became talking points on the sidelines of Coveney’s interactions with this Gulf counterparts.

“It’s impossible to come to this part of the world and not talk about what is currently happening in Gaza, because everybody is watching and is horrified by the human suffering and loss of life,” he said.

“People know when they speak to an Irish government minister that we are both interested and engaged in this debate.

“So, yes, on the sidelines of a lot of the trade discussions, of course, we’re talking about regional conflict and it’s impossible not to focus on the Israel-Palestine conflict that we’re seeing right now in Gaza.

“Also, the tension that we’re seeing in terms of the Red Sea and what Houthi rebels are doing in terms of targeting shipping in the Red Sea, which essentially is targeting global trade, because about 30 percent of global goods trade transits through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea, which is significantly being disrupted right now.”

Asked if he noticed a contradiction between the Biden administration’s calls for Israeli restraint in Gaza and sending of weapons and shells to Israel, Coveney responded that the situation required for a realistic appraisal.

“The signal that would be sent to the broader Middle East region of the US preventing arms coming from the US to Israel would potentially be a dangerous one in terms of the signal to Iran and others who are enemies of Israel,” he said.

“I think the US knows that. So, we need to be realistic here on what’s possible.”

 


Yemen’s Houthis attacked US warships with drones, missiles: Pentagon

Yemen’s Houthis attacked US warships with drones, missiles: Pentagon
Updated 5 sec ago
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Yemen’s Houthis attacked US warships with drones, missiles: Pentagon

Yemen’s Houthis attacked US warships with drones, missiles: Pentagon
  • The ships “were attacked by at least eight one-way attack uncrewed aerial systems,” Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder told journalists

WASHINGTON: Yemen’s Houthi rebels targeted two US destroyers with drones and missiles as they transited the Bab Al-Mandab Strait, but the warships defeated the attacks, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
The ships “were attacked by at least eight one-way attack uncrewed aerial systems, five anti-ship ballistic missiles and three anti-ship cruise missiles, which were successfully engaged and defeated,” Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder told journalists of the Monday attacks.


Jordan completes latest airdrop of aid to Gaza

Jordan completes latest airdrop of aid to Gaza
Updated 7 min 41 sec ago
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Jordan completes latest airdrop of aid to Gaza

Jordan completes latest airdrop of aid to Gaza
  • UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees warns that the amount of emergency humanitarian supplies entering the territory ‘is at its lowest level in months’
  • Jordanian Armed Forces have carried out 123 airdrops of emergency aid to Gaza since war began, and a further 266 in joint efforts with other countries

LONDON: Jordan’s air force carried out its latest delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday.

It came as the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees said the amount of emergency supplies entering the enclave is lower than it has been for months.

Royal Jordanian Air Force C130 Hercules aircraft dropped crates of food, drinking water and medical supplies, the Jordan News Agency reported. Since the war began in October last year, the Jordanian Armed Forces have completed 123 airdrops of emergency aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and a further 266 as part of joint efforts with countries including France and the UK.

Humanitarian officials consider land convoys to be the most effective way of delivering emergency supplies to help ease the humanitarian crisis, but Jordan has resorted to airdrops because of Israeli army restrictions on access to the Gaza Strip that have been in place since last year.

Also on Tuesday, Louise Wateridge, an emergencies officer with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, warned that “aid entering the Gaza Strip is at its lowest level in months.”

On Monday, during the Extraordinary Arab-Islamic Summit in Riyadh, Jordan’s King Abdullah called for “a humanitarian bridge to break the siege imposed on the people in the Gaza Strip and deliver emergency aid to the sector that is suffering a humanitarian disaster.”

He said that finding “a real political horizon to resolve the Palestinian issue on the basis of the two-state solution” remains the “only way to achieve peace, stability and security in the region.”


Iran, Russia link bank card systems

Iran, Russia link bank card systems
Updated 50 min 9 sec ago
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Iran, Russia link bank card systems

Iran, Russia link bank card systems

TEHRAN: Iranian bank cards can now be used in Russia, state television reported, as the two countries linked their banking systems in the latest bid to counteract sanctions.

Iranian banks have been excluded since 2018 from the SWIFT international financial messaging service, which governs the vast majority of trans-actions worldwide.

The move is part of a raft of sanctions that were re-imposed on Iran after the US withdrew from a landmark 2015 nuclear deal.

Iranian bank cards can now be used in Russia, state television channel IRINN said on Monday, showing the withdrawal of money using an Iranian bank card from an ATM in Russia.

The operation was made possible by connecting Iran’s interbank network Shetab to its Russian equivalent Mir, the channel said.

Iranians can currently withdraw money in Russia, and will in the future be able to use their cards to pay for in-store purchases, it added.

“The plan is also going to be implemented in other countries that have a wide range of financial and social interactions with Iran, for example Iraq, Afghanistan and Turkiye,” it said.

Both Iran and Russia have sought to counteract the effects of sanctions on their economies.


Lebanese artists struggle to keep creativity alive in a nation at war

Lebanese artists struggle to keep creativity alive in a nation at war
Updated 58 min 29 sec ago
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Lebanese artists struggle to keep creativity alive in a nation at war

Lebanese artists struggle to keep creativity alive in a nation at war
  • Artists use their work as an outlet for the frustration and despair they feel

BEIRUT: As Israel presses a deadly offensive against armed group Hezbollah in his home country, Lebanese artist Charbel Samuel Aoun wrestles with the role of art in a country engulfed in conflict.

“Does art still have a place in such a crisis?” said Aoun, a 45-year-old mixed media painter and sculptor.

Lebanon has historically played a central role in the Arab world’s artistic scene, serving as a vibrant hub for visual arts, music and theater, blending traditional and contemporary influences.

Now, Lebanese artists are using their work as an outlet for the frustration and despair they feel after a year-long Israeli offensive that has killed more than 3,200 people, the vast majority of them since September.

Aoun’s pieces are a direct reflection of Lebanon’s back-to- back crises. In 2013, he began gathering dust from Syrian refugee camps in Lebanon to create a series of layered paintings, before moving on to explore other mediums.

Now, he says the darkness and hopelessness of the war — and the debris left behind by Israel’s intense bombing campaign across Lebanon’s south, east and Beirut’s southern suburbs — has revived his desire to work with dust.

“You either stop everything or keep going with the little that still has meaning,” he said.

Two of his exhibitions have been canceled due to the war. While he once lived on the income from his art, he now also relies on selling honey from his beehives, which he first set up as a project to create art from beeswax.

“I can no longer rely on the art market,” he said.

Galleries across Beirut have shut down in recent months, with owners saying there was no demand to buy art at this time. Lebanon’s famed modern art museum, the Sursock Museum, has moved its collections to underground storage.

Lebanese singer and musician Joy Fayad has grappled with the emotional toll of the conflict — which made it difficult for her to perform for months.

“It limited my creativity, it was like I shut down. I couldn’t give to others, nor to myself,” Fayad, 36, said.

Instead, she threw her energy into songwriting. One line in a new song reads: “You are from the downtrodden people, whose word has been silenced, and by their weapons, you are paying the price with your blood.”

She recently began performing again, singing for displaced and refugee children in Lebanon at a charity event north of Beirut.

“They’re changing the atmosphere, having fun after such a difficult period,” she said, especially for those who became accustomed to the sound of bombs instead of beats.


How Israeli far-right violations of East Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa compound are growing in scope and severity

How Israeli far-right violations of East Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa compound are growing in scope and severity
Updated 56 min 49 sec ago
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How Israeli far-right violations of East Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa compound are growing in scope and severity

How Israeli far-right violations of East Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa compound are growing in scope and severity
  • Jews and other non-Muslims may visit Al-Aqsa but must not pray there or display religious symbols
  • In recent years, the restrictions have been increasingly flouted by hardline religious nationalists, prompting violence

LONDON: As feared, they came in their thousands, swarming into the Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem at the height of the week-long Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot.

On Sunday, Oct. 20, while the world’s attention was focused on the wars in Gaza and Lebanon, more than a thousand Israeli settlers occupied the Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem. Over the next two days, thousands more followed.

Inside, protected by police who prevented Muslims from entering, they performed Jewish religious rituals in defiance of the longstanding status quo at the Haram Al-Sharif, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.

A member of the Israeli security forces and Palestinians waiting near the Lion's Gate scuffle as they wait to enter the Al-Aqsa mosque compound to attend the last Friday noon prayer of Islam's holy fasting month of Ramadan, on April 5, 2024. (AFP)

The forced entries over three days, the latest in a series of provocative acts orchestrated by far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, came as no surprise to Ir Amim, an Israeli human rights organization that works “to render Jerusalem a more equitable and sustainable city for the Israelis and Palestinians who share it.”

On the eve of the Jewish High Holiday season, Ir Amim (“City of Nations” in Hebrew) issued a report revealing that 2024 was already “a record year in terms of the scope and severity of Israel’s violations of the status quo on the Mount.”

It warned that the situation “is particularly dangerous given that undermining the status quo on the Haram Al-Sharif/Temple Mount is liable to escalate into another front of violence” and added that the Israeli government’s “distorted priorities regarding the management of the war in Gaza and the north are also reflected in its conduct on the Haram Al-Sharif/Temple Mount.”

FASTFACTS

• Jews, other non-Muslims may visit Al-Aqsa compound in East Jerusalem, but may not pray there or display religious symbols.

• In recent years, the restrictions have been increasingly flouted by hardline religious nationalists, prompting violent reactions.

In January 2023, nine months before the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, Ben Gvir staged one of his controversial visits to the site, ignoring warnings from other Israeli politicians that he risked provoking violence and saying that he would not “surrender to the threats of Hamas.”

According to Hamas, it was repeated provocations such as those orchestrated by Ben Gvir that led to the Oct. 7 attack, which it codenamed “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.” About 1,200 Israelis were killed and some 250 others kidnapped during the coordinated attack by Palestinian militant groups. The subsequent Israeli military retaliation has, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, left nearly 42,000 Palestinians dead and more than 92,000 injured.

Israeli men pray on the Mount of Olives overlooking the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, where Muslim devotees participate in their Friday Noon prayer, in Jerusalem on March 29, 2024. (AFP)

Resolving the thorny status of Jerusalem is viewed as an important prerequisite to peace. On Monday, Arab and Muslim leaders concluded a landmark summit in Riyadh with a unified demand for Israel to withdraw from all occupied Palestinian territories.

The summit’s closing statement stressed that East Jerusalem is the “eternal capital of Palestine,” and rejected any Israeli decisions aimed at “Judaizing” it, considering such measures “null, void and illegitimate under international law.”

The leaders of 57 nations said they considered “Al-Quds Al-Sharif a red line for the Arab and Islamic nations,” and reaffirmed their “absolute solidarity in protecting the Arab and Islamic identity of occupied East Al-Quds and in defending the sanctity of the holy Islamic and Christian sites therein.”

Israeli police take position during clashes with Palestinians on Laylat al-Qadr during the holy month of Ramadan, at Jerusalem's Old City, May 8, 2021. (REUTERS)

For Muslims, the mosque compound is the third-holiest site in Islam. As the Temple Mount, it also holds great significance for Jews, who believe it was the site of both the First Temple, destroyed by Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar II in 587 B.C., and the Second Temple, built in the first century B.C. and destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70.

For decades, a delicate status quo has preserved the balance of interests at the site, which has been a waqf — an Islamic religious endowment — since the 12th century. Since 1948, the site has been managed by the Jordanian-appointed Jerusalem Islamic Waqf and Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs Council, known simply as the Waqf.

By international agreement, the Waqf has retained responsibility for the site ever since, although since the occupation of the Old City of Jerusalem by Israel after the Six Day War in 1967, Israeli forces have controlled access to it.

Challenging the status quo on the Temple Mount is a dangerous, unnecessary, and irresponsible act, says Yoav Gallant, Israel’s former defense minister. (AFP)

The compound has always been open for Jews to visit during specified hours, but they are not allowed to pray there or display religious symbols.

Ironically, said Daniel Seidemann, an Israeli lawyer and founder of nongovernmental organization Terrestrial Jerusalem, it was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who “best defined this core understanding in 2015 when he said: ‘Muslims pray at the Temple Mount; non-Muslims visit the Temple Mount’.”

Seidemann added: “Until 2017, Netanyahu reasonably maintained the status quo. But since then, he has incrementally allowed Jewish prayer, while disingenuously asserting that Israel is committed to maintaining the status quo.

“That was, and is, a lie.”

Israeli police confronts Palestinians at al Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. (AP)

The UN Security Council has repeatedly had cause to rebuke Israel for undermining the status quo, and last month the Waqf issued a joint statement with the Supreme Islamic Authority and the Palestinian Fatwa House accusing Israel of an “extremely dangerous escalation” by allowing settlers free rein in the compound.

In the past, said Seidemann, “many hundreds of Israelis, many Jewish, visited the mosques daily without incident. They came as guests and were treated as guests.

“But today’s visitors are best represented by Ben Gvir. He visits as the proprietor and treats the Muslims as his tenants.

“Jewish visits to the Mount no longer have anything to do with piety, and everything to do with ultra-nationalist religious triumphalism.”

He added: “Commencing with the new Netanyahu government, the veil has been ripped away. The violation of the status quo is both so blatant and consistent it cannot be denied.”

During Ramadan this year, “some of these new developments were temporarily suspended. That required a lot of discrete negotiations, leading to public safety being vested in security people with cool heads and steady hands.

“This year, as an exception, it was the quietest Ramadan in memory. Nothing stabilizes Jerusalem as much as the pursuit of the status quo in good faith.”

But following the end of Ramadan in April, said Ir Amim researcher Aviv Tatarsky, “Israel again imposed harsh restrictions on Muslim entry to Al-Aqsa, reverting to the unprecedented measures implemented after Oct. 7 and the subsequent outbreak of the war.”

Muslim worshippers under the age of 40 “are consistently denied access to the Mount by the police, even during Muslim prayer times.

“The most stringent restrictions are imposed during Jewish visits, which ultimately translates into a ban on Muslim entry while Jews conduct prayer unencumbered on the Mount.”

This systematic exclusion of Muslims from their place of worship during Jewish visits, he said, “is not only a breach of Muslim worship rights and the status quo, but also contributes to heightened tensions in an already volatile climate.”

According to Ir Amim, this past year there has been an up to 20 percent increase in the number of Jewish visits to the Mount, with over 50,000 recorded since the beginning of the Hebrew year in September 2023, surpassing the previous annual record.

But this figure refers to the number of visits, and not unique visitors, and what it reflects is an increasing number of visits primarily by “a small, albeit vocal, segment of the population alongside government supporters,” pushing for an increased Jewish presence on the Mount.

“This reality directly contradicts the Israeli government’s attempts to justify changes to the arrangements as a result of ‘pressure from below’,” said Tatarsky.

“The vast majority of the Jewish public remains uninterested in praying at the Holy Compound, while the erosion of the status quo is entirely the work of the government in service to a fringe extremist group.”

Israel’s Heritage Ministry recently announced its intention to fund Jewish visits to the compound with a budget of 2 million shekels (about $530,000.)

“The Temple movements, which are behind the Jewish tours and visits to the Mount, require government funding to sustain their activities,” said Tatarsky.

“Thus, the new budget constitutes a calculated government effort to manufacture further challenges to the status quo, aiming to engineer the Israeli public in service to its goals.”

Ir Amim has made a number of recommendations for maintaining the status quo. These include allowing unrestricted Muslim access to the Mount and, “if the police find it difficult to manage the simultaneous presence of Muslim worshippers and Jewish visitors, the entry of Muslims should take precedence,” it says, adding: “Muslim worship rights trump non-Muslim visiting rights.”

In addition, it says, Israel must prevent any Jewish prayer or worship activity on the Mount, prohibit government ministers from speaking against the status quo and visiting the Mount, and cancel the allocation of all funds to the Jewish Temple movements.

“Even after years of activity by the Temple movements, only a small minority of the Jewish public visits the Temple Mount,” said Tatarsky. “The government is ultimately promoting the interests of a fringe extreme Jewish group, while severely harming millions of Muslim residents and Israel’s relations with Arab countries, especially Jordan.”

In the past, Jewish extremists have made no secret of their wish to destroy the mosque and replace it with a “Third Temple.” This ambition is enshrined in the Amidah, the central prayer of the Jewish liturgy, which includes the entreaty “that the Temple be rebuilt speedily in our days.”

Over the decades, the mosque has been the target of arson and bomb attacks. In 1990, 20 Muslims were killed and dozens more wounded in clashes provoked by an attempt by an extremist Jewish group to lay a symbolic cornerstone for the “Third Temple” in the Al-Aqsa compound.

In recent years, extremist groups, encouraged by Ben Gvir and other right-wing politicians, have stepped up the campaign to see a third temple built on the site. Ben Gvir, who has made multiple provocative visits to the Mount, has insisted Jews should be allowed to pray on the site, a position denounced by some Israeli politicians and rabbis.

A threat made by Ben Gvir in August to build a synagogue at the Al-Aqsa compound drew condemnations from several Israeli officials.

A statement from Netanyahu’s office reiterated that “there (was) no change” to the existing policy.