When Ireland formally recognised the state of Palestine in May, Taoiseach Simon Harris urged countries to “use every lever at their disposal” to bring about a ceasefire. When the official figure of Palestinian deaths topped 40,000 in mid-August the lever he invoked was an “urgent review” of the EU-Israel Association Agreement.1
After 11 months of relentless ethnic cleaning and genocide The Lancet estimates that the death toll in Gaza is closer to 200,000 than 40,000, 70% of which are women and children.2 Famine conditions are widespread, malnutrition and the dearth of medical care or clean drinking water have preventable diseases skyrocketing. Polio is on the rise. The systematic destruction of infrastructure essential to the maintenance of life, and Israeli bombing of residential areas and refugee camps is relentless. Nearly all 2.2 million people in Gaza have been displaced at least once. The UN reports some being displaced 14 times by bombing and Israeli evacuation orders.3 Around two million Palestinians are now confined into just 15 square miles of the Gaza strip.4 Given this unimaginably stark and urgent reality, Simon’s call for the trade deal review doesn’t exactly hit home as pulling “every lever” at his disposal.
The Irish and Spanish calls for a review of the association agreement were first made in February 2024, after the ICJ ruling upholding the plausibility of South Africa’s claims against Israel with respect to violations of the Genocide convention. The human rights clauses of the EU-Israel agreement were clearly breached. Six months and countless atrocities and war crimes later the EU is still incapable or unwilling to act collectively against Israel’s commission of genocide. Belgium held the rotating EU presidency until the end of June 2024 and had been pushing for reopening the EU-Israel agreement in light of the onslaught in Gaza. At the end of May the Council of Foreign Ministers agreed to convene an Association Council with Israel to discuss the country’s compliance with its human rights obligations. The Israel mission to the EU responded they would convene this meeting if it discussed a wide range of trade and cultural issues and not just the matter of Gaza – telling Politico “We cannot use the Association Council as leverage for … political purposes.”5 In mid-June Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz announced on X that Israel would “participate in the Association Council under the upcoming Hungarian presidency of the EU”.6 The Israelis want this meeting – if it happens – on their terms. With staunch Israel ally Hungary7 in the presidency until the 31st of December 2024 this is more likely. What is a certainty is given the pro-genocide positions of EU member states like Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Finland there will not be the necessary unanimous agreement among EU states either coming to or leaving that meeting. In reality, given the gravity of the situation on the ground Simon’s calls for this review are at best too little too late. At worst this call is a red herring – Simon’s cynical sop to the Irish public, 76% of whom want direct sanctions placed on Israel.8
It would perhaps be possible to take Simon’s statements at face value were he not presiding over a constant flow through Irish airspace and territory of military hardware and personnel to and from Israel and the surrounding region. The Ditch have been documenting assistance of Israeli cargo planes by the state-owned air traffic management service AirNav Ireland. At the time of writing there are at least three known instances of these planes being granted clearance through sovereign Irish airspace while loaded with US-made weapons destined for the genocide of Gaza.9* Trade with Israel is booming. Between October 7th and 23rd of May the department of Enterprise cleared dual-use export licences with a value of €52 million bound for end users in Israel.10 Ireland has state investments in companies operating in illegal Israeli settlements on occupied territories. The state has signed multiple weapons and weapons maintenance contracts with Israeli arms companies in recent years and is likely to purchase 14 surveillance drones from an Israeli arms manufacturer in the coming months.11**
Back in March, UN Rapporteur Francesca Albanese said “there’s this tendency to be very supportive with rhetoric, as Ireland has, but when it comes to taking concrete actions, there is zero. Not a little. Zero.”12 It is no longer a question of rhetoric vs inaction – but rhetoric vs complicity. Our government trades with entities up to their neck in the genocide, allows arms to the genocide through our airspace, and offers Shannon as a NATO airbase. The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Article III (e) states ‘Complicity in genocide shall be punishable’. It is time to stop listening to what the government says, and hold them accountable for what they do.
*Update, 4 September. The Ditch have now reported that there have been at least 8 flights with weapons bound for Israel that have flown through Irish airspace. Simon Harris says he is “seeking information” on the matter.
**Update, 4 September. On August 30, Micheál Martin stated that Ireland would cease purchases of Israeli military equipment and ongoing contracts are to be put under review. One to keep an eye on.
1. Department of the Taoiseach, Statement from Taoiseach Simon Harris on the Situation in the Middle East, 11th August, 2024.
2. R. Khatib, M McKee, S. Yusuf, ‘Counting the dead in Gaza: difficult but essential’, The Lancet Online, July 5th, 2024.
3. D. Johnson, Z. Taleb, ‘Gaza: Latest evacuation orders leave civilians dangerously close to frontline’, UN News, August 21, 2024.
4. A. Ayyoub, R Jones, ‘Two Million Gazans Are Now Confined to 15 Square Miles’, The Wall Street Journal, August 23, 2024.
5. Antonia Zimmerman, ‘Israel rejects EU call for ad-hoc summit’, Politico, June 21, 2024.
6.@Israel_katz, X, 6:46 pm, June 17th, 2024.
7. Hungary’s Programme of the European Presidency reiterates Israel’s right to self-defence and dedicates a whole paragraph to fighting anti-semitism and fostering Jewish life.
8. Órla Ryan, ‘Vast majority of Irish people think the EU should impose sanctions on Israel’, The Journal, June 6, 2024.
9. The Ditch, ‘Third flight transported IDF weapons over Ireland’, August 27, 2024.
10. Kilare Street, Written Answers, Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, ‘Export controls’, [23073/24], May 23, 2024
11. Conor Gallagher, ‘Israeli arms companies can bid for Irish drones contract’, Irish Times, August 21, 2024
12. ‘Government’s lack of a meaningful response to Israel’s actions in Gaza ‘shameful and disgraceful’’, Irish Examiner, March 25th, 2024.
